Population dynamics and survival studies of Azotobacter sp. as influenced by different inoculant formulations

Abstract

Growth curve of Azotobacter developed by colony plate count technique which has reached the stationary phase at 12 hrs after inoculation. PEG-6000 and PVP K-15 at 2 percent concentration has showed the maximum Azotobacter population with the CFU 39x106/ml. Maximum Population density was observed and was maintained up to 300 days in the medium containing PEG 6000 + glycerol followed by PVP K-15 + glycerol followed by lignite based inoculant. Population data shows that the addition of osmolytes at initial and stationary phase has not showed any significant difference, addition of osmolytes at the time of media preparation is found to be better, because of less contamination, and process is not so cumbersome.