Page 334 - e-Book

soil conditioner, water quality, feed for animals and protein supplements (Whitton and Pots,

2000).
Out of these activities cyanobacteria attained remarkable practical importance since

last 2- 3 decades as biofertilizer. Calothrix, Hapalosiphon, Aulosira, Anabaena and Nostoc
were dominant nitrogen fixing blue-green algae occurred in various agro-practices areas of

Maharashtra state. Such forms were found very useful for crops such as sugarcane, tomato,
rice, maize and mungbean (Meelu, 1992) and wheat (Genter et al., 1995) by fixing nitrogen.

In India, the agro- ecological conditions are favorable for the growth of blue-green

algae. Particularly, in Maharashtra state, there is great scope for its adoption to marginal
farmers. However, the agronomic potential of blue-green algae is currently little exploited.

An in-depth agro-ecological research is an essential requisite for the sustainable improvement

of blue-green algal technology. This owing due to the lack of knowledge, both on the
distribution of blue-green algae in the natural habitats and the factors that controls their

establishment in the agricultural fields.
A series of reports on blue-green algae are restricted to Indian paddy fields (Kolte and

Goyal, 1985; Sahu et al., 1997; Anand and Hopper, 1995; Singh et al., 1997, Venkataraman,
1975; Santra, 1983; Devi et al., 1999; Nayak et al., 2001). But soil algae from fields used for

cultivation of crops other than paddy have not been studied. By considering all these issues

along with societal responsibilities as well as to fulfill such lacunae, the present investigation
was carried out to explore blue-green algal flora particularly Family Nostocaceae in Godavari

river belt of Kopargaon tahsil.
MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study area selected for present investigation belongs to the Northern region of the
Ahmednagar district and are highly irrigated areas receiving water from Godavari river. It has

completely changed the land use scenario into irrigated farming with tomato- sugarcane-

onion- wheat- cotton cropping system.
Sampling of soil

To assess the cyanobacterial distribution in the soil fifteen sampling sites were

established in the study area during study period. Soil Samples were collected as per the
procedure given by Singh (1961). The soil samples were collected from two different crop

fields. They are: i) fields receiving irrigation water only through rain (rain fed area, locally
called Jirayat) and ii) fields receiving irrigation water through dug wells / tube wells

(riverside area i.e. river area). A total 68 soil samples were collected from the study areas.

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