Isolation and Molecular Characterization of Novel Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria from Wheat: Implications for Sustainable Agriculture and Ammonia Production

With the increasing demands of food, the use of urea in agricultural sector is also increasing all over the world; creating various environmental hazards. By developing sustainable agricultural techniques, such as using biological nitrogen fixation by bacteria for plant benefits, can help minimize these effects. In this study, endophytic bacteria were isolated using nitrogen free media and their nitrogen fixing capability was analyzed using Nessler’s reagent method. The isolated strains were identified to confirm their taxonomic classification by 16srRNA. Three bacterial isolates exhibited highest ammonia concentration among eleven isolated nitrogen fixing bacteria. I-2 identified as Bacillus pumilus showed ammonia synthesis at 58.7 µg/ml. 55.3 µg/ml and 42.0 µg/ml ammonia concentration were recorded for I-3 (Bacillus safensis) and I-4 (Bacillus. Sp.), respectively. These results indicates the potential use of isolated strains for biological nitrogen fixation, thus contributing to eliminate the dependency on urea fertilizer. Further research need to focus on testing the effect of these strains in field experiments.