Isolation And Characterization of Endophytic Microorganisms from Plants and Their Application as Biofertilizer (Research Article)

Author(s): S. Chauhan, M. Kantaria and H. Panchal

Abstract: Endophytes, by residing within the specific chemical environment of host plants, form a unique group of microorganisms. Microbially unexplored plants can have diverse groups and potential microbial association. The present investigation was aimed to isolate and characterize endophytic microorganisms from Avicennia, Acacia and coconut with ability to solubilize phosphate, fix nitrogen and produce various enzymes. Total 18 bacterial and 12 fungal isolates were isolated from the surface sterilized stem, root, and leaf of plants. Ten bacterial isolates and nine fungal isolates have capacity to solubilize phosphate. Studies on nitrogen fixation suggested that sixteen isolates have the ability to fix nitrogen. All the endophytic bacterial and fungal isolates were screened for enzyme production. The result of the study revealed that maximum bacterial isolates have positive L-asparaginase activity, followed by Amylase and Lipase activity. Similarly maximum fungal isolates have positive Lipase activity followed by Amylase activity. Bacterial isolates and bacterial plus fungal isolated gave efficient results in seed assay and pot assay respectively. Thus, results indicate that endophytes isolated from different plants could be used as a biofertilizer.

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