Abstract

Biofertilizer can be defined as bioformulation containing living organisms. They are known to play a similar role as chemical fertilizers resulting in increased soil fertility and crop production. The application of chemical fertilizer causes massive harm to the environment thus focus of various stakeholders is on alternatives and biofertilizer is one of them. The quality of biofertilizer is most important for its end-user and has to be monitored at various stages. One such biofertilizer is Rhizobium of the Rhizobiaceae family which infects the root nodules of leguminous plants and reduces atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia to make it available for the plants. The shelf-life studies of Rhizobium containing biofertilizer are important to track the quality of formulated biofertilizer. There are several methods to find the shelf life but the most suitable are the serial dilution and plating method. The viability of cells within the biofertilizer can be determined by the colony-forming unit count of the plate at different time intervals. The quality checks on Rhizobium biofertilizer include pre-culture test, broth test, and peat test. This review highlights the application and benefits of Rhizobium as a biofertilizer.

Key words: Biofertilizer, Bioformulation, Shelf life, Colony forming unit, CFU