Effect of Rhizospheric Bacteria on Seed Germination, Seedling Growth and Development of Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana L.)

Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) are beneficial bacteria that inhabit plant roots and promote plant growth through a diverse array of mechanisms. These include direct and indirect methods such as phosphate solubilization, siderophore production, ammonia production, phytohormone production and various enzymatic activities. A total of 17 rhizospheric bacteria were isolated from a rhizosphere region of green gram field and they were screened for various growth promoting activities. It revealed 52.9% isolated bacteria were positive for siderophore production and phosphate solubilization, 47.05% were positive for cellulase production and 100% were positive for catalase production. Two bacterial isolates (Rgb4 and Rgb5) were selected for evaluation of finger millet seed germination on the basis of their prominent growth promoting activities. The percentage of finger millet seed germination is more in the seeds treated with Rgb4 (90%) as compared to treated with Rgb5 (70%) and control with (30%). Thus, this piece of work may be the milestone in near future for the productivity of millets by the application of some potential rhizobial isolates.