Logo

Contents: 1. Introduction. 2. Review of Literature. 3. Materials and Methods. 4. Results and Discussion. 5. Summary and Conclusion. References. 

Rice is one of the most important food crops in the world and staple food for more than 50 % of the global population. Meeting the increasing global demand for food, chemical fertilizers are used on a large scale these days in agricultural practices. Excessive use of chemical fertilizers is leading to diminishing reserve of high quality raw material and increasing energy costs. Hence, use of Bacillus consortia in the form of biofertilizers can be considered as an important strategy. Bacillus represent a high proportion of the soil microbial biomass. Plant rhizospheric soils are a major habitat for Bacillus. The association of rhizospheric Bacillus with plants is found to confer many advantages, such as the nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, potassium mobilization as well as production of antimicrobials, phytohormones, ammonia production, production of 1- Aminocyclopropane-1- carboxylate deaminase (ACC), siderophore production, and plant protection against abiotic and biotic stresses. Therefore, Bacillus inoculants can be used to reduce dependence on chemical fertilizer which would lead towards sustainable agriculture. The enhanced Bacillus dynamics in turn increased plant growth parameter, dry biomass and rice yield as well as soil health due to more availability of nutrients and plant growth promoting substances, thus satisfying all the criteria for sustainability. This book will be of use and interest to consultants, researchers, libraries, entrepreneurs, manufacturers of biofertilizer and for those who wants to venture in to this field. I am also confident that this manual is useful for the extension of Bacillus consortia as a biofertilizer usage to a large number of farmers for improvement of crop yield and other benefits, while minimizing environmental pollution from agrochemical inputs.