Free-living soil bacteria beneficial to plant growth, usually referred to as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), are capable of promoting plant growth by colonizing the plant root. Strain ML3 was obtained from a weed rhizosphere soil sample collected from village Ladwa of Hisar on nitrogen-free Malate medium. The isolate had Gram positive rod shaped cells. Parameters assessed were indoleacetic acid (IAA) production, phosphate solubilization, ammonia excretion and siderophore (Fe-III chelating agent) production. The results showed that isolate ML3 produced IAA and ammonia in the range of 174.72 and 0.66 µg ml-1 , respectively. ML3 exhibited positive siderophore production and it was also able to efficiently solubilise tricalcium phosphate. The key functional nitrogenase gene nifH was detected in strain ML3. Partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing identified strain ML3 as Bacillus licheniformis which was confirmed by morphological and biochemical characterization. Possession of plant growth promoting traits make ML3 a promising strain to be developed as multifunctional biofertilizer.
