An indigenous strain of potassium-solubilizing bacteria Bacillus pseudomycoides enhanced potassium uptake in tea plants by increasing potassium availability in the mica waste-treated soil of North-east India

Abstract

Aim: Potassium (K) is one of the three major nutrients required of plant growth and muriate of potash (MoP) is the only recognized chemical fertilizer used in agriculture. In many countries, 100% of the applied MoP is imported costing huge revenue. Application of suitable potassium-solubilizing bacteria (KSB) as biofertilizer could be an integral part of K management in arable soil. The object of this study was to evaluate K-solubilizing ability of a ubiquitous micro-organism as KSB to supplement K in soil. Methods and Results: Strain (O-5) was isolated from tea-growing soil and identified as Bacillus pseudomycoides. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the nearest neighbours of B. pseudomycoides strain O-5 were Bacillus cereus, Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus toyonensis. Though the species was first identified in 1998 and is ubiquitous in soil, the role of this group of micro-organisms in nutrient cycling in soil has not been studied before. Strain solubilized 33Á32 AE 2Á40 lg K ml À1 in mica waste (MW; muscovite type mineral)-amended broth after 7 days incubation at 30 AE 1°C. In a soil microcosm study under laboratory condition, B. pseudomycoides strain O-5 increased K availability by 47Á0 AE 7Á1 mg kg À1 after 105 days incubation, while the strain released 104Á9 AE 15Á3 mg K kg À1 in MW-treated soil. In this study, application of isolated B. pseudomycoides with MW significantly increased K availability in soil, and that in turn facilitated K uptake by tea plants. Conclusion: Based on the data, it could be inferred that B. pseudomycoides could mobilize K from bound form in soil and can be utilized as K-solubilizing biofertilizer especially in combination with MW for supplementing K in soil. Significance and Impact of the Study: Bacillus pseudomycoides strain O-5 has potential to be used as K-solubilizing biofertilizer in agriculture.

Bacillusspecies in soil as a natural resource for plant health and nutrition

“…KSB are often applied with a mineral form of potash like mica waste. Recently B. pseudomycoides , a KSB, was isolated from tea‐growing soils of North east India and was found to increase the availability of potassium in soil and uptake in tea plants when inoculated with Mica waste (Pramanik et al ). Another important nutrient where Bacillus can be found to play a major role is zinc.…”

Microbes as Biofertilizers, a Potential Approach for Sustainable Crop Production

“…B. mucilaginosus, when inoculated in soil, improved the oil content and groundnut biomass by 35.4% and 25%, respectively, along with enhanced K and P availability [93]. Recently, a study has shown that a potassium-solubilizing strain Bacillus pseudomycoides enhanced K uptake in tea plants in the mica waste-treated soil by increasing potassium availability [94]. Another strain Bacillus cereus significantly increased the plant height, shoot dry weight, and branches number by about 15%, 26%, and 27%, respectively, compared to the control [95].…”

Safety aspects of stingless bee pot-pollen from the Philippines

“…Most of these Bacillus spp. are associated with plants and were reported to have potential application in biomedicine and biocontrol (Liu et al, 2019;Lu et al, 2017;Jouzani et al, 2017;Prazdnova et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2017) as well as potential probiotics (Elshaghabee et al, 2017) and biofertilizer (Pramanik et al, 2019). Lysinibacillus and Paenibacillus are widespread bacteria usually considered as environmental contaminants and rarely connected to human diseases (Wenzler et al, 2015;Sannino and Angert, 2017).…”