Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are known to influence plant growth by various direct or indirect mechanisms. In search of efficient PGPR strains with multiple activities, a total of 72 bacterial isolates belonging to Azotobacter, fluorescent Pseudomonas, Mesorhizobium and Bacillus were isolated from different rhizospheric soil and plant root nodules in the vicinity of Aligarh. These test isolates were biochemically characterized. These isolates were screened in vitro for their plant growth promoting traits like production of indoleacetic acid (IAA), ammonia (NH(3)), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), siderophore, phosphate solubilization and antifungal activity. More than 80% of the isolates of Azotobacter, fluorescent Pseudomonas and Mesorhizobium ciceri produced IAA, whereas only 20% of Bacillus isolates was IAA producer. Solubilization of phosphate was commonly detected in the isolates of Bacillus (80%) followed by Azotobacter (74.47%), Pseudomonas (55.56%) and Mesorhizobium (16.67%). All test isolates could produce ammonia but none of the isolates hydrolyzed chitin. Siderophore production and antifungal activity of these isolates except Mesorhizobium were exhibited by 10-12.77% isolates. HCN production was more common trait of Pseudomonas (88.89%) and Bacillus (50%). On the basis of multiple plant growth promoting activities, eleven bacterial isolates (seven Azotobacter, three Pseudomonas and one Bacillus) were evaluated for their quantitative IAA production, and broad-spectrum (active against three test fungi) antifungal activity. Almost at all concentration of tryptophan (50-500 microg/ml), IAA production was highest in the Pseudomonas followed by Azotobacter and Bacillus isolates. Azotobacter isolates (AZT(3), AZT(13), AZT(23)), Pseudomonas (Ps(5)) and Bacillus (B(1)) showed broad-spectrum antifungal activity on Muller-Hinton medium against Aspergillus, one or more species of Fusarium and Rhizoctonia bataticola. Further evaluation of the isolates exhibiting multiple plant growth promoting (PGP) traits on soil-plant system is needed to uncover their efficacy as effective PGPR.

Rice is a staple food for over half of the

Phosphorus (P) is the second important key plant nutrient after nitrogen. An adequate supply of P is therefore required for proper functioning and various metabolisms of plants. Majority of P in soils is fixed, and hence, plant available P is scarcely available despite the abundance of both inorganic and organic P forms in soils. A group of soil microorganisms capable of transforming insoluble P into soluble and plant accessible forms across different genera, collectively called phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms (PSM), have been found as best ecofriendly option for providing inexpensive P to plants. These organisms in addition to supplying soluble P to plants also facilitate the growth of plants by several other mechanisms, for instance, improving the uptake of nutrients and stimulating the production of some phytohormones. Even though several bacterial, fungal and actinomycetal strains have been identified as PSM, the mechanism by which they make P available to plants is poorly understood. This chapter focuses on the mechanism of P-solubilization and physiological functions of phosphate solubilizers in order to better understand the ecophysiology of PSM and consequently to gather knowledge for managing a sustainable environmental system. Conclusively, PSM are likely to serve as an efficient bio-fertilizer especially in areas deficient in P to increase the overall performance of crops.

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Around 3 billion people are living in poverty of which 35 % are from Muslim World (World Bank 2010). In this case, global Muslim community has prime role to address the injustice of global poverty through zakah as an Islamic faith-based institution and having potential annual fund of $139.32 billion in Muslim world. This study designed an explanatory sequential mixed method. For qualitative data, 17 managers were interviewed and 85 zakah recipients were purposively surveyed (disproportionate sampling) for quantitative purpose between August 1 and December 30, 2013. The results indicate that zakah has significant bearing on the conditions of zakah recipients and lie the foundation of developing small business entrepreneurship by mobilizing zakah as seed money (investment) and not as spent money (consumption). A five-phased process model underpinned by two well-grounded theories: Becker's human capital theory and Kirkpatrick's training evaluation taxonomy has been proposed for developing entrepreneurship having universal application. The model's implications for alleviating poverty by governments, zakah management institutions, and policy makers also discussed in the paper.JEL Codes: I32; L26; P36