The Nitrogen Fixation Capability of Cyanobacteria–A Natural Source as a Bio–Fertilizer For Arachis Hypogaea

Ganesh Ramesh Pawar; Jaap Kaur Matharu; Deepak Kumar

Volume : IV, Issue : V, May - 2014

The Nitrogen Fixation Capability of Cyanobacteria–A Natural Source as a Bio–Fertilizer For Arachis Hypogaea

Ganesh Ramesh Pawar, Jaap Kaur Matharu, Deepak Kumar

Abstract :

&nbsp;The cyanobacteria are widely distributed over land and water, often an environment where no other vegeta &ndash;tion can exist. They have a considerable and increasing economic importance. The fixation of atmospheric nitrogen (N2) is a very energy intensive endeavor. The nif genes are responsible for the coding of proteins related and associated with the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen into simpler form of nitrogen which is easily utilized by plants. These genes&nbsp;responsible for nitrogen fixing are found in certain species of cyanobacteria. Nitrogen fixation depends on interaction&nbsp;between cyanobacteria nif genes, host plant and the environment. The experiments were conducted during this project to&nbsp;examine the presence of nif genes at molecular level in isolated cyanobacteria. The improvement in the plant/crop growth&nbsp;is observed, if cyanobacteria are supplemented with soil in comparison with control. The crop was selected on the basis of&nbsp;availability of sterile seeds of Arachis hypogeal (groundnut). Different parameters were observed in intervals to evaluate the&nbsp;capability and effectiveness of nitrogen fixing by cyanobacteria. Root nodules, thickness and health of root, shoot length,&nbsp;and yield parameter were found effective in test experiment when compared with control. The observation was obtained&nbsp;from 25 plants at interval of 20, 37, 45 and 65 days. The average data of treated after 20 days showed the shoot length,&nbsp;root length and number of nodules are 24.9, 9.4 and 0 whereas control showed 21.4, 6 and 0 respectively. Data obtained&nbsp;after 45 days were 32.7, 18.7 and 16.6 in treated with comparison of control which is 28, 13.1 and 3 for shoot length, root&nbsp;length and number of nodules. The yield parameter were obtained after 65 days and found better in treated, which suggest increase of 6 times on an average. The data obtained indicate that the nitrogen fixation increased by supplementation of&nbsp;cyanobacteria in soil.