Vol. 7, Issue 11 (2018)

Author(s):
Deepika Mazumdar, Shyama Prasad Saha and Shilpi Ghosh

Abstract:
In this study, chickpea plant (Cicer arietinum) rhizobacteria were screened for plant growth promoting traits and among the isolated PGPR, a potent strain RS26 was selected for further studies. The strain was non-pathogenic to human as determined by its inability to produce hemolysin and was identified by morphological, biochemical and 16S rRNA analysis as Klebsiella pneumoniae RS26. RS26 was found to be capable of N₂ fixation, ammonia production, phosphate solubilisation and IAA production. Time dependent analysis of ammonia production revealed that RS26 produced 15.21 µg/ml of NH₃ at 72 h of incubation. IAA production by the strain enhanced in presence of tryptophan and was maximum (15 µg/ml) at 48 h of incubation. Phosphate solubilisation was negatively correlated with the medium pH and maximum phosphorus solubilisation (29µg/ml) was observed after 7 days of incubation.