Impact on the productivity of preparation on rhizobial inoculant carriers

Selection of a suitable carrier material for rhizobial inoculants is essential for biofertilizers production. Locally available wastes or by-products as carrier material will increase the cost effectiveness of the inoculants preparation. Here, were evaluated four such waste materials from local ground viz. charcoal, saw dust, garden soil and sugarcane bagasse with carrier based inoculums (108 viable cells/ml) and kept at room temperature (30 ± 20C). The colony forming unit (CFU) count of each strain in different carriers was monitored every month. The charcoal, garden soil and saw dust resulted to allow a better survival of the inoculums. The viable counts in charcoal, soil, saw dust and sugarcane bagasse after 240 days of storage was recorded as 107, 106, 105 and 103 for MPR8 and 107, 105, 105 and 103 for TFR3 strains respectively. The effects of storage of carrier on plant productivity showed better plant biomass accumulation and nodulation in cases of charcoal, sawdust and garden soil. However it was insignificant with the sugarcane bagasse based inoculants