Review: Nitrogen Fixing Microorganisms

Microorganisms employed to enhance the availability of nutrients, viz., nitrogen (by fixing atmosphere N ), to the crops are called biofertilizers. In recent years, biofertilizers have emerged as an important 2 component for biological nitrogen fixation. It offers an economically attractive and ecologically sound route for augmenting nutrient supply. Plant growth promoting species are commonly used to improve crop yield. In addition to their agricultural usefulness, there are potential benefits in environmental applications. Thus various species of Rhizobium for legumes, blue - green algae (BGA) or cynaobacteria and Azolla (a fern containing symbiotic N - fixing BGA, i.e., Azolla Anabaena Azollae) for wet land rice and Azotobacter / Azospirillum for 2 several crops can play significant role in agriculture.