PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF

LIQUIDE BIO FERTILIZER

Shah khalid sharifi-PALB 5336

 INTRODUCTION
One of the major concerns in today's world is the pollution and contamination of soil. The use
of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has caused tremendous harm to the environment. An
answer to this is the biofertilizer, an environmentally friendly fertilizer now used in most
countries.
Liquid biofertilizer is the solution to the problems where no solid carrier is needed. liquid and
cyst formulation of Azospirillum exhibited better adherence and survival on seeds, seedling
roots and in the rhizosphere than the carrier-based forms. This shows that liquid biofertilizer has
greater potential than carrier-based biofertilizer.
Biofertilizers will help solve problems of the soil and chemical run-offs from the agricultural
fields. Thus, biofertilizers are important if we are to ensure a healthy future for the generations
to come.
 Benefits
- Longer shelf life -12-24 months
- Greater potentials to fight with native population.
- Easy identification by typical fermented smell.
- Better survival on seeds and soil.
- Very much easy to use by the farmer.
- High commercial revenues.
- High export potential
Characteristics of different liquid Bio-fertilizers
Rhizobium-
Physical features of liquid Rhizobium:
•Dull white in colour
•No bad smell
•No foam formation, pH 6.8-7.5
Azospirllium-
Physical  features of liquid Azospirillum:
•The colour of the liquid may be blue or dull white.
•Bad odours confirms improper liquid formulation and may be concluded as
mere broth.
•Production of yellow gummy colour materials comfirms the quality product.
•Acidic pH always confirms that there is no Azospirillum bacteria in the liquid.
 Role of Liquid Azospirillum under field
conditions:
• Stimulates growth and imparts green
colour which is a characteristic of a
healthy plant.
• Aids utilization of potash, phosphorous
and other nutrients.
• Encourage plumpness and succulence of
fruits and increase protein percentage.
 Azotobacter 
Physical features of liquid Azotobacter:
The pigmentation that is produced by Azotobacter in aged
culture is melanin which is due to oxidation of tyrosine by
tyrosinase an enzyme which has copper. The colour can be noted
in liquid forms. Some of the pigmentation are described below.
• A. chroococcum: Produces brown-black pigmentation in liquid inoculum.
• A. beijerinchii: Produces yellow- light brown pigementation in liquid inoculum
• A. vinelandii: Produces green fluorescent pigmentation in liquid inoculum.
• A. paspali: Produces green fluorescent pigmentation in liquid inoculum.
• A. macrocytogenes: Produces, pink pigmentation in liquid inoculum.
• A. insignis: Produces less, gum less, grayish-blue pigmentation in liquid
inoculum.
• A. agilies: Produces green-fluorescent pigmentation in liquid inoculum.
 Acetobaceter
This is a sacharophillic bacteria and
associate with sugarcane, sweet potato
and sweet sorghum plants and fixes 30
kgs/ N/ ha year. Mainly this bacterium is
commercialized for sugarcane crop. It is
known  to increase yield by 10-20 t/ acre
and sugar content by about  10-15
percent.
 Liquid  Bio-fertlizer application methodology
There are three ways of using Liquid Bio-fertilizers
• Seed treatment
• Root dipping
• Soil application
Dosage of liquid Bio-fertilizers in different crops
Recommended Liquid Bio-fertilizers and its application
method, quantity to be used for different crops are as follows.
CROP RECOMMENDED BF APP-METHOD QUANTITY
- Field crop and Rhizobium seed treatment 200ml/acre
pulses

- cereal azotobacter seed treatment 200ml/acre

- Wheat, oat, barley Azospirillum // //

-Maize and Sorghum Azospirillum // //

-Leguminous plants/ Rhizobium soil 1-2ml/plant

trees
Equipments required for Biofertilizer production
In biofertilizer production industry, equipments are
the major infrastructure, which involves 70 percent
of capital investment. Any compromise on the usage 
of the following mentioned equipments may finally
decline in the quality of biofertilizer.After studying
the principle behind the usage of all instruments,
some of the instruments can be replaced with a
culture room fitted with a U.V.Lamp. Autoclaves, Hot
Air Oven, Incubators and sealing machines are
indigenously made with proper technical
specifications. The correct use of equipments will
give uninterrupted introduction with quality
inoculum.
 Essential equipments
Autoclave
It is an apparatus in which materials are sterilized by air
free saturated steam (under pressure) at a temperature
above 100OC. If the steam pressure inside the autoclave is
increased to 15 psi,  the temperature will rise to 121°C. this
is sufficient to destroy all vegetative cells. Normally all
growth medium are sterilized in the autoclave.

Laminar air flow chamber 

Laminar air flow chamber provides a
uniform flow of filtered air. This
continuous flow of air will prevent settling
of particles in the work area.Air borne
contamination is avoided in this chamber.
Culture transfers and inoculation can be
done here.
conti
• Rotary shaker
• Hot air oven
• pH meter
• Refrigerator
• Fermentor
 Culturing of Microorganisms

Although many bacteria can be used beneficially as a

biofertilizer the technique of mass production some
liquid biofertilizers.
The media used for mass culturing are as follows.
Rhizobium:Yeast extract mannitol broth
Growth on Congo red yeast extract mannitol agar medium
• Mannitol-10.0 g
• K2 HPO4 -0.5 g
• Mg So4 7H2 O -0.2 g
• NaCl-0.1 g
• Yeast extract - 0.5 g
• Agar- 20.0 g
• Distilled water - 1000.0 ml
Phosphobacteria: Pikovskaya’s Broth
• Glucose-10.0 g
• Ca3(PO4)2- 5.0 g
• (NH4)2SO4-0.5 g
• KCl-0.2 g
• MnSO4-Trace
 MgSO4. 7H2O-0.1 g
• FeSO4-Trace
• Yeast Extract-0.5 g
• Distilled Water-1000 ml
Handling and Application of Liquid Inoculum
Liquid inoculums ensure the facility of easy handling
and application. This is exemplified by the addition of
thickeners or suspenders to suspensions which aids in
maintaining even distribution of the organism over the
plant. Liquid prevents the clumping of the organism and
ensure its ready resuspension after prolonged storage,
where as uniformity is not maintained by dusts and other
wettable powders. It is evident that the population count
come down to 105 in the duration of six months at room
temperature in the case of Azospirillum while it survives
in liquid up to 2 years and maintains population up to
108/ml.
 Constraints
• Crisis of efficient strains:Unavailability of potential regional
strains is one of the major reasons. The specificity and
competitive ability of the strain is the key point on which the
efficacies of the organism relay with respect to the hosting
soil and plant variety.
• Possible genotypic changes:During the production of the
fertilizers the organism may get interacted with other
organisms which may leads to change in basic character of the
organisms.
• Lack of awareness:In spite of many ongoing projects on the
development of biofertilizers, proper attention towards the
technology is still needed in order to manifest the results at
field level.
 Conclusion
India is one of the important countries in biofertilizer production and
consumption. In order to encourage the organic agriculture by
biofertilizers, five biofertilizers. namely Rhizobium, Azotobacter
, Azospirillum, Phosphate solubilizing bacteria and mycorrhiza have been
incorporated in the FCO, 1985 . The average consumption in the country is
about 45,000 tons per annum while the production being less than the
half. At present in India there is a gap of about 10 million tones of plant
nutrients between removal by crops and replenishment through fertilizers.
It is evident that there is a tremendous gap between the annual demand
and production of the biofertilizers globally especially in India. Hence, the
judicious combination of chemical fertilizers and biofertilizers is also
encouraged considering economical and ecological concerns. It is
estimated that the present level of biofertilizer use is quite low and there
is a substantial potential to increase it to 50,000-60,000 tons by 2020. The
maximum production capacity is in Agro Industries Corporation followed
by State Agriculture Departments, National Biofertilizers Development
Centers, State Agricultural universities and private sectors.