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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
Mine tailings sites have caused severe damage to the ecosystems through production of a large amount of heavy metals. Ecological remediation of metal polluted sites by means of plants and microbes has received much attention around the world. Phytoremediation of metal contaminated sites in association with phosphate-solubilizing bacteria is considered to be a suitable option for overcoming the metal stress on the environment. The aim of the present study was to isolate and characterize phosphate solubilizing bacteria from rhizospheric soil of plants growing in tailing dam of Zawar mines, Udaipur and to determine their zinc tolerance ability. A total of 265 isolates were recovered on Pikovskaya’s agar out of which 96 isolates were found to solubilize phosphate. The solubilizing efficiency of the isolates ranged between 6.25 and 350. A total of 38 isolates out of 96 were able to grow on nutrient agar supplemented with 1 mg/ml (minimum concentration) of zinc sulphate heptahydrate (ZnSO4.7H2O). Minimum inhibitory concentration of ZnSO4.7H2O for the 38 isolates ranged between 2 and 24 mg/ml. On the basis of remarkable phosphate solubilization and zinc tolerance ability five isolates (PSB 11, PSB 16, PSB 51, PSB 55 and PSB 91) were selected for further characterization. On the basis of biochemical profiling and partial sequence analysis of respective 16S rRNA genes, the five isolates were found to belong to two different genera i.e., Pseudomonas and Cronobacter. The phosphate solubilizing activity of the isolates along with zinc tolerance ability may provide a new approach for bioremediation of metal-polluted soils.