Enhancing crop growth, nutrients availability, economics and beneficial rhizosphere microflora through organic and biofertilizers

By G. Jilani, A. Akram, Raja M. Ali, F. Hafeez, I. Shamsi, A. N. Chaudhry, A. G. Chaudhry. Annals of Microbiology, 2007

164 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Field experiment was conducted on fodder maize to explore the potential of integrated use of chemical, organic and biofertilizers for improving maize growth, beneficial microflora in the rhizosphere and the economic returns. The treatments were designed to make comparison of NPK fertilizer with different combinations of half dose of NP with organic and biofertilizers viz. biological potassium fertilizer (BPF), Biopower, effective microorganisms (EM) and green force compost (GFC). Data reflected maximum crop growth in terms of plant height, leaf area and fresh biomass with the treatment of full NPK; and it was followed by BPF+full NP. The highest uptake of NPK nutrients by crop was recorded as: N under half NP+Biopower; P in BPF+full NP; and K from full NPK. The rhizosphere microflora enumeration revealed that Biopower+EM applied along with half dose of GFC soil conditioner (SC) or NP fertilizer gave the highest count of N-fixing bacteria (Azotobacter, Azospirillum, Azoarcus andZoogloea). Regarding the P-solubilizing bacteria,Bacillus was having maximum population with Biopower+BPF+half NP, andPseudomonas under Biopower+EM+half NP treatment. It was concluded that integration of half dose of NP fertilizer with Biopower+BPF / EM can give similar crop yield as with full rate of NP fertilizer; and through reduced use of fertilizers the production cost is minimized and the net return maximized. However, the integration of half dose of NP fertilizer with biofertilizers and compost did not give maize fodder growth and yield comparable to that from full dose of NPK fertilizers.

Subfields: Agronomy and Crop Science, Plant Science, Soil Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f402ee7d5d567e80b202c79e426e1c41c2214752

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Agronomy and Crop Science

1. David L. Jones

In Plant Science

1. E. Oburger
2. David L. Jones
3. Y. Kuzyakov

In Soil Science

1. David L. Jones
2. E. Oburger

Citations in the corpus

• Plant growth promotion induced by phosphate solubilizing endophytic Pseudomonas isolates (2015, background): “Current research suggests that the inoculation of crops with Phosphate Solubilizing Microbes (PSM) has the potential to reduce application rates of phosphate fertilizer by 50% without significantly reducing crop yield (Jilani et al., 2007; Yazdani et al., 2009).”
• Solubilization of Phosphorus by Soil Microorganisms (2011, background): “It is also clear that PSM cannot provide a complete replacement for conventional fertilizers but simply a way of reducing our reliance on them (i.e. the use of PSM as part of an integrated nutrient management regime; Jilani et al. 2007; Sharma et al. 2009).”
• Phosphorous and Phosphate Solubilising Bacteria and their Role in Plant Nutrition (2017, background): “PGPR together with PSB can reduce P fertilizer application by 50% without any significant reduction in crop yield (Jilani et al., 2007).”
• Allelochemicals: sources, toxicity and microbial transformation in soil —a review (2008, background): “The organic amendments hold great promise as a source of multiple nutrients and ability to improve soil characteristics (Jilani et al., 2007), but if applied injudiciously they may also cause some tribulations.”