Authors : Kirti V. Dubey, Sulbha V. Kulkarni, Ashish Lambat and Praveen N. Charde
Page Nos : 214-217
Description :
Study of Gorewada forest was carried out to find out physicochemical as well as microbiological properties of soil collected from the rhizosphere of different plant species. Studies have shown that the forest is of dry deciduous type having trees, shrubs, herbs, climbers and grasses and some barren patches of land. Rhizospheric soil of the different plant species had clayey texture, porosity and water holding capacity was high. The electrical conductivity, organic carbon and cation exchange capacity of pit soil was somewhat high compared to barren soil; however levels of these chemical properties were lower as compared to the rhizospheric soil samples of dominant plant species. Total and available nutrient content was also high in rhizospheric soil. The bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes and nitrogen fixers viz. Rhizobium and Azotobacter and vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM) spore counts were high in pit soil as compared to barren soil. This study forms a basis for the development of forest cover with a diverse variety of plants of high economic value on barren patches of land at Gorewada forest by using the biotechnological approach of bioaugmentation.
Keywords: Gorewada forest, Rhizospheric Soils, Rhizobium, Azotobacter, VAM, bioaugmentation.
