Appraisal of biofilm forming bacteria in developing buffalo dung-based bioformulation coupled to promote yield of Foeniculum vulgare Mill.

Chemical fertilizers impart deleterious effects on crop productivity and its nutrients which is a serious concern among agriculturist. Current research focuses on the commercial preparation of an eco-friendly and cost-effective bioformulation using buffalo dung slurry and beneficial plant growth-promoting (PGP) and biofilm forming strains. 40 strains were isolated from buffalo dung showing PGP activities. Among them, 03 strains were further selected to sequence by 16S rRNA technology and identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa BUFF12, Proteus mirabilis BUFF14, Enterobacter xiangfangensis BUFF38. The strains were used for consortium preparation on the basis of increase in PGP activity. The consortium of strains increases in vitro PGP attributes at different percentage, i.e., 22% increase in IAA production, 10% increase in siderophore production, 5% increase in P- solubilization, 8% increase in K- solubilization, and 11% increase in S-oxidation. Three carrier materials, i.e., molasses of sugarcane, rice gruel, and buffalo dung slurry, were chosen to conduct the study. Among them, dung slurry proved to be an effective supportive material on the basis of their physico-chemical analysis and viability of strains for long-term storage. It maintained the population mixture of strains (9.4 × 108 cfu/ml) for 120 DAI followed by molasses (9.1 × 108 cfu/ml) and rice gruel (7.9 × 108 cfu/ml). These beneficial strains were further applied in field for crop productivity and slurry-based formulation with mixture of strains exhibited incredible plant growth after definite interval of time. Chemotactic activity proved these strains as strong root colonizers which was confirmed by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM). This research disseminates a successful technology to develop an eco-friendly bioformulation of buffalo dung slurry augmenting the crop growth in an eco-friendly manner leading to sustainable agriculture. © King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology 2022, Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.