Page 29 - RUT Publisher

Life Science Research and Sustainable Development ISBN: 978-98-84663-33-9

Acetobacter diazotrophicus as Nitrogen fixing Endophytic

bacteria in Sugarcane Collected from Rahuri, Ahemednagar

S.R. Adik, M.T. Kuchekar & B.T. Pawar

Research Center in Botany,
Shri Muktanand College,
Gangapur, Dist. Aurangabad (MS)
drbtpawar@gmail.com

Keywords: Abstract:
Acetobacter Rahuri taluka of Ahmednagar district is located between latitude
diazotrophicus, 19.3951 and longitude 74.6521 meter. The climate of Rahuri is
Endophytic characterized by hot summer and general dryness. Nitrogen fixation
bacteria, is an important process in plants providing nitrogen as the most
Rahuri, valuable macronutrient required by the plants. Acetobacter
Ahmedangar. diazotrophicus as an endophytic nitrogen fixing bacteria is collected
from Rahuri taluka of Ahmednagar district (M.S). Total 16
rhizospheric samples were collected from various localities of the
taluka and soil testing was done to determine pH and Water Holding
Capacity (WHC). An average pH of soil samples collected from the
study area was ranging between 5.7 to 6.5 pH; while WHC was
ranging between 33.20 to 41.80 %. After isolation of bacteria from soil
sample, cell morphology and colony morphology was studied. With
the help of special media and morphological characters preliminary
identification of A. diazotrophicus was done. Out of these 16 bacterial
strains 05 bacterial strains did not show characters identical with A.
diazotrophicus; while other strains resembled A. diazotrophicus.
Morphologically 11 bacterial strains viz. RH 01, RH 02, RH 03, RH 04,
RH 06, RH 08, RH 09, 09, RH 11, RH 13, RH 14 and RH 15 were
identical showing similar morphological characters. While 05
bacterial strains RH 05, RH 07, RH 10, RH 12 and RH 16 were different
from one another and they are grouped in Group-II. Colonies were
creamy white, cicular, small to large sized, opaque with smooth
margins. A. diazotrophicus is able to increase nutrient supply, soil
fertility and crop growth of sugarcane. The study of A. diazotrophicus
will be useful for further researchers and it will be better alternative
for chemical fertilizers.

INTRODUCTION
Rahuri taluka of Ahmednagar district is located between latitude 19.3951 and longitude
74.6521 meter. The climate of Rahuri is characterized by hot summer and general dryness. The
average temperature in Rahuri taluka is 25.9°C and the average rainfall is 511 mm. The area under
Rahuri is 1061.5 square kilometre (Mahadule et al., 2020). Gulve and Gadekar (2022) studied
watershed development program in Ahmednagar district. Nitrogen fixation is an important
process in plants providing Nitrogen as the most valuable macronutrient required by the
https://jesjalna.org/Zoology-Publications/index.html 21 Department of Zoology, J. E. S. College, Jalna