Genetic tagging of Azotobacter chroococcum for colonization on wheat (Triticum aestivum) and cotton (Gossypium sp.) roots

Abstract

Azotobacter chroococcum strains E12, HT57 were genetically tagged with lac Z, gfp to study the colonization behaviour on wheat (Triticum aestivum) and cotton (Gossypium sp.) in soil under controlled conditions. 10³ – 10⁴ cfu g⁻¹ soil of HT57 lac Z were found to colonize roots of both cotton and wheat crops whereas 1.7 × 10⁴ – 7.2 × 10⁴ cfu g⁻¹ soil of E12 gfp was colonizing wheat roots and 1.6 × 10⁴ – 9.3 × 10⁴ cfu g⁻¹ soil of E12 gfp colonized cotton roots respectively. Tagged strains colonized mostly on root tips compared to basal roots in both the crops.

Keywords:

• Colonization
• lac Z
• gfp
• Azotobacter chroococcum
• Triticum aestivum
• Gossypium sp

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by National Agricultural Technology Project (ICAR), India. Authors deeply appreciate the financial support.