Isolation of Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria from Fermented Panchagavya and their Effect on Vigna Radiata

Abstract

Panchagavya is a mixture of five cow products viz. cow dung, urine, milk, curd and ghee containing many beneficial microorganisms mentioned in ancient Indian scripts. Two bacterial cultures (PG-7 and PG-34) isolated from fermented panchagavya were studied for gibberellic acid (GA)production and phosphorus (P) solubilization, respectively. Initially, PG-7 produced 0.81 mg/ml GA and was increased to 5.70 mg/ml after media optimization. PG-34 was able to solubilize considerable amount of tricalcium phosphate (213.36 µg/ml). The effect of pure cultures (PG-7, PG-34) and mixed culture (PG-7 plusPG-34) on Vigna radiata was studied in the pots. The application of pure as well as mixed culture showed the significant positive effect on the growth of Vigna radiata. The mixed culture increased about 2.07, 2.16, 1.50, 7.50, 2.50, 2.72 times fresh weight, dry weight, shoot length, root hair numbers, leaf numbers and leaf area, respectively on 20thday.The bacterial isolates (PG-7, PG34) of fermented panchagavya have a potential to be used as biofertilizer