Published Paper Details:

The soil acts as a reservoir for millions of microorganisms.This study aimed at isolating and characterizing plant growth-promoting bacteria as well as assessing their ability to promote plant growth. The present investigation was aimed towards isolation and purification of the strains from soil, their characterization , identification and further establishment of their biofertilizer potential on rice (Oryza sativa) plant. Five sampling sites namely S1 (Banana field soil, Hazipur), S2 (Near Gandhi Setu, wetland area), S3 (Sediment pond), S4 (Vaishali) and S5 (Sonepur) were selected. These isolates showed a wide range of temperature for growth between 4? C to 55? C which suggests its potential as biofertilizer. The maximum reproductive growths and size of fruits were obtained when the plants were grown in soil inoculated with S1 (C), S2 (F) and S3 (R) bacterial combinations. The molecular identification was carried out by16s rRNA sequencing. On the basis of BLAST alignment of the sequenced nucleotides the isolates S1(C), S2(F) and S3(R) were identified as different strains of Brevibacillus borstelensis and Paenibacillus dendritiformis, respectively. The isolates S1(C) and S2 (F) appear to be different strains of Brevibacillus borstelensis. The reported literatures suggest that the B. borstelensis acts as plant growth promoting bacteria whereas; P. dendritiformis as a biocontrol agent. All the three strains i.e. S1(C), S2 (F) and S3(R) favor rapid plant growth and inflorescence, thus forming a mixture of PGPR and biocontrol agents which in turn not only promote plant growth but also add to the plant vigor in fighting against diseases.