Phosphate solubilizing microbes: sustainable approach for managing phosphorus deficiency in agricultural soils

By Seema B. Sharma, R. Sayyed, M. Trivedi, T. Gobi. SpringerPlus, 2013

1,894 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Phosphorus is the second important key element after nitrogen as a mineral nutrient in terms of quantitative plant requirement. Although abundant in soils, in both organic and inorganic forms, its availability is restricted as it occurs mostly in insoluble forms. The P content in average soil is about 0.05% (w/w) but only 0.1% of the total P is available to plant because of poor solubility and its fixation in soil (Illmer and Schinner, Soil Biol Biochem 27:257-263, 1995). An adequate supply of phosphorus during early phases of plant development is important for laying down the primordia of plant reproductive parts. It plays significant role in increasing root ramification and strength thereby imparting vitality and disease resistance capacity to plant. It also helps in seed formation and in early maturation of crops like cereals and legumes. Poor availability or deficiency of phosphorus (P) markedly reduces plant size and growth. Phosphorus accounts about 0.2 - 0.8% of the plant dry weight.To satisfy crop nutritional requirements, P is usually added to soil as chemical P fertilizer, however synthesis of chemical P fertilizer is highly energy intensive processes, and has long term impacts on the environment in terms of eutrophication, soil fertilility depletion, carbon footprint. Moreover, plants can use only a small amount of this P since 75–90% of added P is precipitated by metal–cation complexes, and rapidly becomes fixed in soils. Such environmental concerns have led to the search for sustainable way of P nutrition of crops. In this regards phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms (PSM) have been seen as best eco-friendly means for P nutrition of crop. Although, several bacterial (pseudomonads and bacilli) and fungal strains (Aspergilli and Penicillium) have been identified as PSM their performance under in situ conditions is not reliable and therefore needs to be improved by using either genetically modified strains or co-inoculation techniques. This review focuses on the diversity of PSM, mechanism of P solubilization, role of various phosphatases, impact of various factors on P solubilization, the present and future scenario of their use and potential for application of this knowledge in managing a sustainable environmental system.

Subfields: Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/d6b78056bf9e9e5f26c3e88fdddbe2df12c74967

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In Plant Science

1. M. S. Khan
2. A. Zaidi
3. Ees Ahmad
4. O. Babalola
5. Rocheli de Souza
6. L. Passaglia
7. A. Ambrosini
8. Azra Yasmin

Citations in the corpus

• Microbial Inoculants in Sustainable Agricultural Productivity (2016, background): “The remaining must be obtained through intervention of biotic and abiotic processes where the phosphate solubilizing activity of the microbes has a role to play (Sharma et al. 2013 ).”
• The dark septate endophytic fungus Phialocephala fortinii is a potential decomposer of soil organic compounds and a promoter of Asparagus officinalis growth (2017, background): “In addition, P fertilizer use efficiency is only 30% because it is fixed in the soil (Sharma et al., 2013).”
• Role of bacterial biofertilizers in agriculture and forestry (2015, background): “After nitrogen, phosphorous (P) is the second essential nutrient in terms of necessary uptake amounts in plants [73].”
• Mechanism of Phosphate Solubilization and Physiological Functions of Phosphate-Solubilizing Microorganisms (2014, background): “The insoluble forms of P such as tricalcium phosphate (Ca3PO4)2, aluminium phosphate (Al3PO4), iron phosphate (Fe3PO4), etc. may be converted to soluble P by P-solubilizing organisms inhabiting different soil ecosystems (Gupta et al. 2007; Song et al. 2008; Khan et al. 2013; Sharma et al. 2013).”
• Rhizosphere Engineering With Plant Growth-Promoting Microorganisms for Agriculture and Ecological Sustainability (2021, background): “%) exists in the soluble (plant-available) form (HPO−24 or H2PO4) (Sharma et al., 2013).”
• Plant growth-promoting bacteria as inoculants in agricultural soils (2015, background): “Moreover, plants can only use a small amount of phosphate from chemical sources, because 75-90% of the added P is precipitated through metal-cation complexes and rapidly becomes fixed in soils (Sharma et al., 2013).”
• Harnessing Soil Microbes to Improve Plant Phosphate Efficiency in Cropping Systems (2019, positive): “According to estimates, up to 50% of the bacteria in the soil are considered phosphate solubilizing bacteria [125].”
• Plant growth-promoting potential of endophytic bacteria isolated from roots of wild Dodonaea viscosa L. (2016, background): “These genera are well documented for their phosphate solubilizing abilities (Sharma et al. 2013).”
• Current knowledge and perspectives of Paenibacillus: a review (2016, background): “While bacteria may have drawbacks when compared to phosphorus solubilizing fungi, such as lower activity and a tendency to lose activity after repeated sub-culturing [19], some may nonetheless become preferred bio fertilizers due to additional qualities that simultaneously benefit plant growth.”