A review on the role of Azospirillum in the yield improvement of non leguminous crops

Rise in human population always demands a rapid and sustainable increase in cereal production. As a result nitrogenous fertilizers were used constantly in excess, which resulted in a number of problems such as green house emissions (particularly N2O) and leaching to ground-water. Moreover they are expensive. So long term sustainability in agriculture can only be obtained with the use of low cost fertilizer which should also be ecologically safe. In this regard biological nitrogen fixation by microbes, that is, biofertilizer, plays an active role helping in better maintenance of crop nutrient as well as soil health. Azospirillum, an associative symbiotic nitrogen fixing bacterium has a higher nitrogen fixing potential in non-legumes in comparison to other nitrogen fixing bacterium, by the formation of para nodules. However further investigation is needed to find possible avenues for the exploitation of this bacterium. The current review emphasizes the central issues of Azospirillum and its application either alone or in combination with other plant growth promoting rhizobacteria for the benefit of the non leguminous crops.