Effect of Different Carbon Sources and Growth Supplements on Growth and Biomass Production of Bioinoculant Azospirillum lipoferum Az204

In this study the growth and cell yield of Azospirillum lipoferum Az204 was investigated in different carbon sources. Also the effect of adding growth promoting nutrients (0.1% of biotin or 0.1% yeast extract) along with the carbon sources was tested in Nfb medium. The study revealed the ability of A. lipoferum Az204 to grow in malic acid, glucose, succinic acid and glycerol. Although addition of 0.1% of biotin enhanced the cell number and biomass the growth in all carbon sources was at it’s maximum in the presence of 1g L-1 of yeast extract. In glucose and yeast extract combination the strain reached maximum viable cell count of 11.8 log cfu ml-1 and biomass yield of 5.25 g L-1 at the end of 24 hours. It is followed by malic acid + yeast extract which showed cell count of 9.25 log cfu ml-1 and biomass yield of 4.13 g L-1 at 24 h time. Among all the carbon sources glycerol showed minimum growth. Glycerol combined with yeast extract produced viable cell count and biomass yield of 5.5 log cfu ml-1 and 1.82 g L-1 respectively. Succinic acid showed intermediate growth and when used along with yeast extract gave viable cell count and biomass yield of 8.22 log cfu ml-1 and 3.82 g L-1 respectively.