Development of Rhizobium and Azospirillum Inoculants with Enhanced Potential for Field Application

There are hundreds of commercial production units in India for microbial inoculants; nearly 20 of these have installed capacity to produce three million packages or more per unit per annum. Yet inoculant production is constrained by the lack of microbial strain efficiency and quality. To develop suitable Rhizobium inoculants and devise agronomic practices, the performance of strains under different agroclimatic conditions was assessed using normal inoculation procedures or in conjunction with nodulation inducers such as flavonoids. Azospirillum is used extensively in Southern India as a microbial inoculant. As the role played by Azospirillum in enhancing crop growth and yield is not yet clearly understood, colonization and plant growth promoting aspects of Azospirillum are also being studied in our laboratory.