Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202 002.
*RS Government College, Shivrajpur, Kanpur, 209 205, e-mail: ozairaziz12@gmail.com.
An experiment was conducted in the premises of the Mathura oil Refinery, Mathura, on summer mungbean with and without Rhizobium inoculation and irrigated either with refinery waste water or fresh water. There was no significant increase in plant growth characteristics and yield in comparison with uninoculated field crops. Rhizobium strains from root nodules of inoculated and uninoculated fields were isolated and characterized. Inoculated plants had, on average 35% of nodule formed by the inoculants strain. It was interesting to note that on increasing the dose of inoculums just double to normal dose, 60% nodules were occupied by inoculants strains. Native rhizobial isolates showed high tolerance level against heavy metals (100–1600 lg/ml), pH, salinity and antibiotics as compared to inoculants strains. These findings suggested that native strains may be exploited for the development of inoculants for local use.
Rhizobium, petrochemical industry waste water, mungbean, heavy metals, salinity
