No abstract

Microorganisms contribute to soil health by improving growth and productivity of crops. The huge diversity of the genus Pseudomonas for their plant growth promoting traits is still under-exploited. Hence, 50 isolates of Pseudomonas from various agro-ecologies were assessed for their plant growth promoting traits. All the isolates were screened for production of growth hormones, exo-polysaccharides, siderophores, hydrolytic enzymes and bio-film. Among the 26% of IAA producers, P84 has shown the highest activity (39.73 µg mL-1). The highest EPS production was exhibited by P105 (60.58µg mL-1) and the least recorded was 2.93 µg mL-1 by P103. In case of ammonia production, ten isolates were strong, eighteen were moderate, fifteen isolates were weak and seven isolates were non producers of ammonia. The ability to produce HCN was exhibited by six isolates. Out of 50 isolates, nine isolates have shown clear zones for chitin/chitosan modifying enzymes. The efficient isolates were further assessed for growth promotion and disease suppression.