Azotobacter chroococcum - A potential biofertilizer in agriculture: An overview

Abstract

Research on Azotobacter chroococcum spp. in crop production has manifested its significance in plant nutrition and its contribution to soil fertility. The possibility of using Azotobacter chroococcum in research experiments as microbial inoculant through production of growth substances and their effects on the plant has markedly enhanced crop production in agriculture. Being free living N2-fixer diazotroph, Azotobacteria genus synthesizes auxins, cytokinins, and GA like substances and these growth materials are the primary substances regulating the enhanced growth. It stimulates rhizospheric microbes, protects the plants from phyto-pathogens, improves nutrient uptake and ultimately boost up biological nitrogen fixation. These hormonal substances, which originate from the rhizosphere or root surface, affect the growth of the closely associated higher plants. In order to guarantee the high effectiveness of inoculants and microbiological fertilizers it is necessary to find the compatible partners, i.e. a particular plant genotype and a particular Azotobacter strain that will form a good association.