Azolla based liquid fertilizer (Azolla based jeevamrut).

Introduction :

Azolla is a highly productive plant. It doubles its biomass in 3 days. It has a high protein content. So we had decided to utilize it in the preparation of jeevamrut. When we see standard protocol for jeevamrut preparation, there is no optimised method for the  preparation of jeevamrut. Jaggery and chickpea are the main ingredients used for the preparation of jeevamrut. Formation of jaggery takes lots of energy and time. So we decided that we can make azolla based liquid fertilizer by replacing jaggery with sugarcane juice and chickpea flour with azolla, which may result in low cost fertilizer.

Objectives :

1. To isolate microorganisms from Azolla based liquid fertilizer .
2. To determine effect of Azolla based liquid fertilizer on Chili plants

Need of project :

Azolla is a highly productive plant. It can fix atmospheric nitrogen. It has a high protein content. But these protein content in azolla is not utilized or useful  for animals and fish as a feed. So we are trying to use it in fertilizer and check its effect on plant growth and development.  Also for the preparation of jaggery we require lots of time, energy, and after that we dissolve these jaggery in water for the preparation of jeevamrut. Then why don’t we change the source of carbohydrate? Then we decided to replace jaggery with sugarcane juice and chickpea flour with azolla in jeevamrut preparation.

Composition of jeevamrut: 

Sr.No	Content	Amount
1.	Water	100L
2.	Jaggery	500 gm
3.	Chickpea flour	500 gm
4.	Cowdung	10 kg
5.	Cow Urine	5 L

Experimental set up :

Set-up No : 01

Sr.No	Content	Amount
1	Jaggery	25 gm
2	Chickpea flour	25 gm
3	Cowdung	500 gm
4	Cow Urine	250 ml
5	water	5 L

Set-up No : 02

Sr.No	Content	Amount
1	Jaggery	25 gm
2	Azolla	130 gm
3	Cowdung	500 gm
4	Cow Urine	250 ml
5	water	5 L

Set-up No : 03

Sr.No	Content	Amount
1	Sugarcane Juice	125 gm
2	Chickpea flour	25 gm
3	Cowdung	500 gm
4	Cow Urine	250 ml
5	water	5 L

Set-up No : 04

Sr.No	Content	Amount
1	Sugarcane Juice	125 gm
2	Azolla	130 gm
3	Cowdung	500 gm
4	Cow Urine	250 ml
5	water	5 L

• 

To isolate microorganism from azolla based liquid fertilizer :

Step 1 : Primary screening :

• Prepared NA and PDA media . Sterilized in autoclave at temperature 121 °c and pressure 15 ibps.

• When sterilization completed, Prepare LAF inoculation.

• Pour the media into petri plates. Kept for solidification.

• After solidification of media, inoculate 0.1 ml of liquid fertilizer on petri plate. Do same for other three sets of liquid fertilizer.
• After inoculation, kept these plates in incubator for incubation at temperature 28 °c.
• Observe growth after 7 days.

Step 2 : Subculturing :

• Prepared NA and PDA media . Sterilized in autoclave at temperature 121 °c and pressure 15 ibps.
• Pour the media into petri plates. Kept for solidification.
• After solidification, Take separate colony fron previous plate and streak it on new plate of media. By these way streak each different colony on different plate with respective media.
• After completion of streaking kept these plates in incubator for growth and development of pure colonies of bacteria and fungus.

To determine effect of Azolla based liquid fertilizer on Chilli plant :

• 21 chilli plants (Variety : Aisha) planted in 21 pots.

• Plants were died due to stem rot.
• 5 % trichoderma treatment given to the plants.

• Trial failed within 7 days.
• Second trial started in poly house with 28 plants.
• 50 ml azolla based liquid fertilizer applied after each three days.
• These project is hand over to Kalyani Shinde from 30 Nov 2020 to give jeevamrut treatment to chili plant and observe its effect on growth and development of plant.