Identification and production of Azotobacter vinelandii and its antifungal activity against Fusarium oxysporum.

The phytopathogenic Fusarium species are one of the leading causes of loss in agricultural productivity. In search of an efficient bacterial antagonist, 19 soil isolates of Azotobacter sp. were screened for antagonistic activity against Fusarium oxysporum by agar well diffusion assay. The potential strain was identified as Azotobacter vinelandii by 16S rRNA sequencing. Optimum conditions for culturing A. vinelandii to obtain maximum antifungal activity were determined by varying temperature, pH, incubation period and NaCl and sucrose concentration. Maximum inhibition of F. oxysporum was observed at pH 7 and 8, 1% NaCI and 2% sucrose concentration and after 72 hr of incubation at 30 degrees C temperature. A. vinelandii showed 44% higher yield of antifungal metabolite under optimized conditions. The minimum inhibitory concentration was 10 microg ml(-1) for F. oxysporum. The FTIR analysis of purified metabolite showed presence of aldehyde, C-N, ester, aromatic ring, P-H stretch, and C-N stretch of alkyl amine in the structure. The purified antifungal metabolite of A. vinelandii showed effect on spore germination and mycelia morphology of F. oxysporum. The study revealed significance of A. vinelandii in controlling F. oxysporum and its promising application as a biocontrol agent in agriculture.

Multiple antibiotic resistance indexing of coliforms to identify high risk contamination sites in aquatic environment.

Bacteriological analysis of the water samples collected from upstream, midstream and downstream points along the bank of the river revealed high populations of Escherichia coli, Citrobacter freundii, Citrobacter diversus, Enterobacter aerogens and Klebsiella species. All these isolates were screened against eight antibiotics to determine the prevalence of multiple antibiotic resistance among isolates at different sites of the river. The study revealed that multiple antibiotic resistance was prominently seen in coliforms at downstream sites (Average multiple antibiotic resistance index, MAR Index = 0.43) while it was low in coliforms at upstream sites (MAR Index = 0.15). These differences in MAR indices provide a method for distinguishing high risk contamination sites in aquatic environment.

Removal of chromium from tannery industry effluents with (activated carbon and fly ash) adsorbents.

Adsorption is a strong choice for removal operations as it is very simple to recover a high quality product from waste sludge. The efficiency of adsorbents like fly ash and activated carbon are tested based on their performance to remove chrome at various pH values, bed heights, and concentration of adsorbents. The removal efficiency was also tested for wastewater characteristics in a pilot plant in addition to the use of adsorbents. The concentration of chromium was determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Perkin Elmer). The results depicted that the efficiency of removal increased with increasing pH and bed height and decreased with increasing concentration. The removal efficiency with fly ash as an adsorbent was comparatively better than activatedcarbon. Thus, adsorbents can be used for chromium removal from tannery industry effluent.