Development and Evaluation of Liquid Inoculants

Continuous use of chemical fertilizers resulted reduced soil and water quality. So, use of biofertilizers should be adopted which have multiple beneficial impacts on soil and convenient in use.The production cost of carrier based inoculants is high as it is energy and labour intensive process as mining, drying etc. and have poor shelf life.Liquid inoculants with greater shelf life may provide a solution over these problems. Liquid inoculants are special formulations of viable cells of desired microorganisms in an appropriate nutrient medium with certain protectant chemicals which promote cell survival in formulations during storage and after seed or soil application. Studies were conducted to develop suitable growth media for liquid inoculants of Mesorhizobium sp. and Pseudomonas sp., to examine the Shelf life and effect of nutrient stresses on survival of these organisms under laboratory and field conditions. Survival of Mesorhizobium sp. and Pseudomonas sp. was found maximum in YEM-2 and NB-1 with Optimum levels of C and N. Shelf life of liquid inoculants was found greater than carrier based inoculants. This study is useful for researchers, farmers and biofertilizer industries.