Saran's Learn Microbiology

QUALITY CONTROL OF BIOINOCULANTS Quality control must begin with the maintenance of Mother culture and Broth culture before addition to the carrier and finished product. Inoculant quality refers to the number of specific effective organisms in the inoculant. The Biofertilizer quality can be tested by using Serial dilution method.   Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) prescribed quality for Bioinoculants Many private companies are producing biofertilizer in the country and they have been found vary in their quality. Hence, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has prescribed certain specification for the inoculants to maintain good quality. They are as follows. The Bioinoculant unit should contain adequate Microbiological lab and qualified Microbiologist. The inoculants should be a Carrier or Liquid or Beads based one. The inoculants should contain a minimum of 10 8 cells/g or ml with 15 days of manufacture and 10 7 cells/g or ml

FIELD APPLICATION OF BIOINOCULANTS TO AGRICULTURAL CROPS   I) Seed Treatment (Solid Inoculant - 200 g/acre; Liquid Inoculant - 50 ml/acre) One package (200 g) of the inoculant is mixed with 200 ml of rice gruel/jaggery solution to make a slurry. The seeds required for an acre are mixed in the slurry so as to have a uniform coating of the inoculant over the seeds and then shade-dried for 30 minutes. The shade-dried seeds should be sown within 24 hours. One package of the inoculant is sufficient to treat 10 kg of seeds. Rhizobium sp., Azospirillum sp., Azotobacter sp. and Phosphobacteria are applied as Seed treatment. II) Seedling Root Dip (Solid Inoculant - 400 g/acre; Liquid Inoculant - 150 ml/acre) Seedling Root Dip method is used for transplanted crops. Two packets (400 g) of the inoculants are required for one acre and mixed with 40 litres of water. The root portion of the seedlings is dipped in the solut

FORMULATION OF BIOINOCULANTS OR MICROBIAL INOCULANTS    Microbial Inoculants can be applied to the crops by different formulations like                           I.           Carrier based inoculant                         II.           Liquid based inoculant                      III.           Alginate bead based inoculant. I) CARRIER BASED INOCULANT Carrier is defined as the medium in which microorganisms allowed to multiply. Various types of material are used as Carrier for Seed or Soil inoculation. For preparation of Seed inoculant, the Carrier material is milled to fine powder with particle size of 10 - 40 μ m. Peat is the most frequently used Carrier material for Seed inoculation. For soil inoculation, Carrier material with granular form (0.5 – 1.5 mm) is generally used. Granular forms of Peat, Perlite, Charcoal, Talcum powder or Soil aggregates are suitable for soil inoculation. Carrier materials used for Microbial In