Isolation and characterization of phosphate solubilizing bacteria from the rhizospheric soil of Ponthenpuzha forest, Pathanamthitta (District), Kerala

Phosphorous is considered as a major parameter for crop yield. Its availability to plant is independent of its abundance. For the plants to utilize phosphorous, it is to be converted to absorbable form. Here, the part rendered by phosphate solubilizing bacteria is significant for it plays a crucial role in the formation of plant usable phosphate from organic forms. In the present work, an effort had been made to isolate and identify phosphate solubilising bacterial isolate from the rhizhospheric soils of various plants in Ponthenpuzha forest. One of the isolate from Cymbopogon citrates responded positively to Pikovskaya's medium by producing a halo zone during in vitro culture. Colony features and 16S rRNA sequence analysis identified the isolate as Burkholderia sps. We have reported the presence of genus Burkholderia in the rhizospheric zone of Cymbopogon citratus. Further studies are warranted for species level identification of the isolate.