Isolation and characterization of native Rhizobium from root nodules of raikia french bean growing area of Odisha

918-926Injudicious application of nitrogenous fertilizers leads to soil quality deterioration which results into yield loss. The application of biofertilizer containing native efficient rhizobia enhances the nodular properties, N-fixation and soil quality. Therefore, fifty strains of Rhizobium were isolated from root nodule of Raikia french bean and among them only two isolates viz., RBHR-15 and RBHR-21 were confirmed as Rhizobium. The isolates were unable to grow under anaerobic conditions and failed to produce ketolactase enzyme, showed a negative response for gelatin liquefaction and Simmon‘s citrate agar test, responded positively towards the indole test, MR-VP, TSI test and could produce NH4+ from peptone in thegrowth medium. The isolate RBHR-15, could reduce H2S and nitrate whereas, RBHR-21 could not. The growth of both isolates was luxuriant in the nutrient broth containing 1% NaCl and decreased with an increase in the concentration of NaCl and grew profusely in the pH range of 6-8. The generation time of RBHR-15 and RBHR-21 were 16.4and 10.6 h, respectively. The 16s rRNA of both isolates was sequenced and submitted to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The isolates RBHR-15, and RBHR-21 were assigned accession numbers MN480514 and MN480516