Azolla Biofertilizer for Sustainable Rice Production

This book entitled Azolla Biofertilizer for Sustainable Rice Production contains the valuable informations from the vast experiences of the authors Professor Dr S Kannaiyan and Dr K Kumar in the field of Azolla-Anabaena symbiosis for the past 25 years. It is written with the objective of providing basic knowledge and practical technologies on the effective utilization of Azolla as an ecofriendly and economically viable biofertilizer for sustainable rice production. It gives an access to the latest informations on the biology of Azolla, growth, sporulation, N2 fixation, ammonia assimilation and mineralization process in rice ecosystem. It offers a good deal of practical technologies for maximum exploitation of the potential status of Azolla biofertilizer viz., mass production techniques of fresh biomass, sporocarp inoculum, carrier based immobilized cyanobacterial inoculant, field application and methods for enhancing N use efficiency of this technology. It also covers the utilty of Azolla as supplemental animal feed and the economics of usage of Azolla as biofertilizer for rice. Illustrative colour photographs have been included in various chapters for easy understanding of the subject by readers. This book will be very useful for the scientists, researchers, postgraduate students, extension workers and voluntary organizations involved in the crop management technology for sustainable rice production.