Decoding the microbiome and metabolome of the Panchagavya – An indigenous fermented bio‐formulation

Article by Dr. Aditya Narayan Sarangi

The Sanskrit word "Panchagavya" means "five components from a cow," including dung, milk, urine, curd, and clarified butter (ghee) [1]. "Panchagavya" increases crop plant growth and nutrient uptake, lowering biotic and abiotic stress. A consortia of helpful bacteria ferments Panchagavya [2]. Cow manure provides bacterial inoculum in bio-formulations [3]. Foliar spray is a common way to apply Panchagavya formulations to crops. The bio-formulation is water-soluble and can be utilised with irrigation water. It is used as a 3% foliar spray in organic farming to supply nutrients and control pests [4]. Panchagavya is also utilised as a biofertilizer at 1:100 (v/wt).

Despite its widespread usage in crop production, especially organic agriculture, its metabolic (hormones, proteins, nutrients) and microbiological profiles have not been well investigated. Hence, we used metagenomics and metabolomics to decipher the Panchagavya's microbial community [5]. These methods can show the Panchagavya formulation's microbial composition, abundance, functional annotation of genes, protein components, hormones, and more.

Metagenomic DNA from the Panchagavya formulation decoded its microbial structure. The sequence data was 135.6 Mb with 160,945 completed contigs The domain bacteria had the most OTUs (99.58%), including species from the phylums Proteobacteria (40.40%), Firmicutes (26.90%), and Bacteroidetes (14.20%). Most common orders were Rhodospirillales (24%), Lactobacillales (22.40%), Bacteroidales (11.30%), Enterobacteriales (6.60%), Pseudomonadales (2.40%), Eubacterials, and Burkholderiales (1.00%). Alphaproteobacteria (24.30%), Bacilli (23.00%), Bacteroidia (11.30%), Gammaproteobacteria (11.20%), and Betaproteobacteria (3.40%) dominated the class. The Panchagavya bio-formulation contained 23.70% Acetobacteraceae, 21.30% Streptococcaceae, Prevotellaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Bacteroidaceae, and Pseudomonadaceae. Streptococcus (20.80%), Acetobacter (14.60%), Prevotella (5.60%), Bacteroides (3.50%), Gluconobacter (3.00%), Klebsiella (2.60), Enterobacter (2.30%), Azospira (2.10%), Azotobacter (1.70%), Gluconoacetobacter (1.60%), Acinetobacter (1.40%), Selenomonas (0.90%), and Pseudomonas (0.40%). S. lutetiensis (9.90%), A. peroxydans (8.20%), S. equinus (5.00%), S. infantarius (3.30%), G. oxydans (3.00%), B. fragilis (2.70%), uncultured B. bacteria (2.50%), and A. chroococcum (1.20%) were abundant in the Panchagavya bio-formulation.

XCMS metabolite analysis detected 5737 features (2035 in the aqueous extract method and 1783 in the multisolvent extract method) and 2970 in the Metlin database. Gibberellic acid and its eight derivatives—A70, A45, A61, A51, A4, A20, A29-catabolite, and A14 aldehyde—were recorded as important plant hormones. The Panchagavya formulation also contained chemicals like Kaurenol, Strigol, Brassinin, Brassicasterol, cis-Zeatin 9-glucoside IAA, and others that promote plant development and biotic stress tolerance

For the first time, modern molecular techniques were employed to validate and explain the Panchagavya's action. Metagenomics revealed the bacterial microbiome structure, indicating their presence and abundance in the Panchagavya. The metabolome anticipated the metabolites of several plant growth stimulants and other chemicals produced and fermented by these bacteria. These data suggest that the Panchagavya manure contains beneficial bacteria and plant growth boosters.

References

1. Tharmaraj, K., et al. "A critical review on Panchagavya-a boon plant growth." International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biological Archives 2.6 (2011): 1611-1614.

2. Nagaraj, Naik, and M. N. Sreenivasa. "Influence of bacteria isolated from panchagavya on seed germination and seed vigour in wheat." Karnataka Journal of Agricultural Sciences 22.1 (2009): 231-232.

3. Radha, T. K., and D. L. N. Rao. "Plant growth promoting bacteria from cow dung based biodynamic preparations." Indian journal of microbiology 54 (2014): 413-418.

4. Somasundaram, E., et al. "Influence of organic sources of nutrients on the yield and economics of crops under maize based cropping system." Journal of Applied Sciences Research December (2007): 1774-1777.

5. Muthukapalli Krishnareddy, Prasannakumar, et al. "Decoding the microbiome and metabolome of the Panchagavya — An indigenous fermented bio‐formulation." iMeta (2022): e63.

Image designed by Hitarth Parikh