Vol. 8, Issue 4 (2019)

Author(s):
Biyas Mukherjee and Sikha Dutta

Abstract:
Excessive use of phosphatic chemical fertilizers hampers agricultural productivity. Plant absorb few amount of applied phosphate-based chemical fertilizer, rest amount is converted into insoluble complexes and stored in the soil which plants are unable to take. This has led to search for an eco-friendly and economically reasonable option for developing crop production. Phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB), capable of solubilize insoluble forms of phosphate into plant-utilizable soluble forms. Nine bacterial strains, possess phosphate solubilizing activity were isolated from the rice field of Burdwan and their phosphate solubilizing activity as well as other plant growth promoting traits were determined. Among them, CP6 strain, identified as Bacillus tequilensis based on 16S rDNA sequencing and phenotypic characterization, selected as best-performing strain. The cell density and Phosphate solubilizing ability of CP6 was also checked with time and in different pH to ensure CP6 strain can be introduced as a potent phosphate Biofertilizer.