220ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF PHOSPHATE SOLUBILIZING BACTERIA AND ANALYSING THEIR EFFECT IN CAPSICUM ANNUM L.The samples for the present study were collected from nearby firework industry respectively. After serial dilution and plating in Pikovskaya’s agar medium, the phosphate solubilizing bacteria were identified by the formation of zone around the colony in Pikovskaya’s agar plates. Five isolates of each sample were selected for further studies. The bacterial isolates were characterized by biochemical and functional tests. Phosphate solubilizing efficiency was estimated and the amount of phosphorous released was estimated using Pikovskaya’s medium. The maximum amount of phosphatase was released in supernatant by the isolates A5 (82U/ml) and B3 (77U/ml) and the minimum amount of phosphatase was released by A1 (21U/ml) and A3 (22U/ml). The applications of bacterial isolates are used for Capsicum Annum L. plant growth studies. Bacterial isolates were tested for their efficiency in seed germination and analyzing the length of the shoots and leavesjchitra21@gmail.comResearch432013Phosphate,Bacteria,Capsicum,shoot,leaves, seed germinationN.Hemalatha,N.Raja,A. Jayachitra,A.Rajalakshmi,N.Valarmathi Department of Biotechnology, Sri Kaliswari College, Sivakasi, Tamilnadu, India., Department of Biotechnology, Sri Kaliswari College, Sivakasi, Tamilnadu, India.,Department of Plant Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai-625021, Tamilnadu, India,Department of Plant Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai-625021, Tamilnadu, India,Department of Bio- Engineering, V.H.N.S.N.College.Virudhunagar, Tamilnadu, India