Indole-3-acetic acid production by the cyanobacterium Fisherella muscicola NDUPC001

Fisherella muscicola NDUPC001 was isolated from agricultural fields of Varanasi, India. The cyanobacterial strain was characterized by morphological as well as molecular methods (16S rRNA gene with accession no. JX876898.2) and was deposited at NAIMCC (NBAIM), Mau, Uttar Pradesh, India (accession no. NAIMCC-C-000121). The cyanobacterial strain produced tryptophan-dependent indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), which was identified by thin-layer chromatography and quantitative determination was done by Salkowski's colorimetric method. The maximum amount of IAA production was 286.82 mu g/ml on the 19th day in culture medium supplemented with 5 mg/ml of L-tryptophan. The cyanobacterial extract increased the length of radicle, plumule and number of adventitious roots of rice several times in comparison to control to state the IAA production by Fisherella muscicola. Also, the production of IAA by this strain is highest among cyanobacteria reported so far.