<span style="font-size:15.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA" lang="EN-US">Assessment of nitrogen fixing bacterial community present in the rhizosphere of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Avicennia</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">marina</i></span>

Abstract

<span style="font-size:9.0pt;line-height: 107%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:="" "times="" roman";mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:en-us;="" mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="" lang="EN-US">Present study served to identify an indigenous diazotrophic bacterial community as a biofertilizer for the improvement of nursery techniques in mangrove restoration. Plant species <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Avicennia</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">marina</i> was selected for investigation in three geographically different regions of the Pichavaram mangrove forest, India. A total of 23 diazotrophic bacteria were isolated from the rhizosphere of the plant. Nitrogen fixing ability of the bacteria was quantitatively assessed using the Acetylene Reduction Assay. Highest nitrogenase activity was recorded from members of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Azotobacter</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Azospirillum</i>. Nitrogenase activity of the three rhizosphere soils was evaluated and positively correlated with the diazotrophic species diversity.</span>