Tag: microbes as biocontrol agents and biofertilizers

Azospirillum is a genus of nitrogen-fixing bacteria that is widely used as a biofertilizer for various crops, including cereals and grasses.

Azolla is a water fern that has a symbiotic relationship with the cyanobacterium Anabaena azollae, which fixes nitrogen. It is commonly used as a biofertilizer in rice paddies.

In paddy fields,biological nitrogen fixation is brought about by Cyanobacteria(Nostoc, Anabaena).

Nostoc and legumes help in increasing soil fertility by nitrogen fixation in the soil.

Biofertilizers encompass a variety of organisms that enhance plant nutrient uptake, including nitrogen-fixing bacteria (like Rhizobium), mycorrhizal fungi, and nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria.

Some cyanobacteria can fix atmospheric nitrogen in anaerobic conditions by means of specialized cells called heterocysts. These heterocyst forming species are specialized for nitrogen fixation, and are able to fix nitrogen gas into ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates, which can be absorbed by plants and converted to proteins and nucleic acids as nitrogen cannot be directly absorbed by plants. Therefore, some of the cyanobacterial species are used as biofertilizers. 

Anabaena is a genus of cyanobacteria that fixes nitrogen and is commonly used in rice fields to increase soil fertility.

Azolla is a fern that hosts nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria and is widely used as a biofertilizer in agriculture.

A biofertilizer is a substance which contains nutrient rich living microorganisms which colonize the rhizosphere or the interior of the plant and promotes the growth of the plant or the seed by increasing the availability of primary nutrients to the plant.

The cyanobacteria fix atmospheric nitrogen through the help of enzyme nitrogenase and are oxygenic photosynthetic also.