Cultivable bacterial diversity and early plant growth promotion by the traditional organic formulations prepared using organic waste materials

Purpose Traditional organic formulations are widelyused as a plant growth promoters; however, the knowledgeon the microbial aspect of traditional organic formulationsis still limited. The aim of this study was to illustrate thecultivable bacterial diversity of various traditional organicformulations and their potential for early plant growthpromotion.Methods Five different traditional organic formulationssuch as 100 % panchagavya, 33% panchagavya, plantextract with native microorganisms, commercial organicfertilizer extract with two percent leaf soil extract andcommercial organic fertilizer extract with 2 % yogurt wereprepared and used in this study. The liquid fraction of thesetraditional organic formulations were used to analyze thebeneficial effect on plant growth by seed treatment andfoliar applications.Results Bacterial 16SrDNA analysis revealed that theisolates fell into forty-three different genera, which can begrouped into seven different classes, such as Alphaproteobacteria,Actinobacteria, Bacilli (or Firmibacteria),Betaproteobacteria, Cytophagia, Flavobacteriia andGammaproteobacteria. Higher bacterial diversity wasobserved in cow dung followed by 33 and 100 % panchagavya.Radish and Chinese cabbage seed germinationand growth were significantly improved by traditionalorganic formulations compared to control.Conclusion The results of this study showed that thebacterial diversity changes depend on the type and concentrationof ingredients used in traditional organic formulations.Substantial increase in plant growth by thetraditional organic formulations indicates the suitability ofusing these organic preparations in eco-friendlyagriculture.