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

Abstract

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 and Zoogloea). Regarding the P-solubilizing bacteria, Bacillus was having maximum population with Biopower+BPF+half NP, and Pseudomonas 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.

Assessment of EDTA heap leaching of an agricultural soil highly contaminated with heavy metals

“…Compared to CaMgP the further amendment with organic fertilizer did not change soil DTPA-extractable metals (Table 5). Nevertheless, the application of organic fertilizer could improve soil structure, conserve the nutrients in soil, and enhance the soil microbial biomass, activity and diversity, which in turn improved the crop growth and restrained metal toxicity (Goyal et al, 1999;Jilani et al, 2007;Zhang et al, 2012).…”

Effects of phosphorus fertilization and Pseudomonas fluorescens strain on the growth and yield of faba bean (Vicia faba L.)

“…It has been proven that these bacteria increase the qualitative/quantitative yields of most crops through biological fixation of nitrogen, biological control of plant pathogens (Saravanakumar et al, 2007;Dey et al, 2004), vitamin production, increased iron absorption by siderophore secretion (Shaharoona et al, 2008;Braud et al, 2009) and production of the plant hormones cytokinin, auxin and gibberellin (Dey et al, 2004), decreasing levels of ethylene by production of Acc deaminase (Shaharoona et al, 2008) and increasing phosphorus solubility. Previous studies have shown that co-inoculation of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) with other growth-promoting rhizobacteria decreased phosphate fertilizer consumption by 50% without a significant reduction in grain yield (Jilani et al, 2007;Yazdani et al, 2009). The ability of Pseudomonas to solubilize P affects the yield, growth parameters, and P uptake of faba beans (Crowley, 2006).…”

Restoring the Land Productivity of Eroded Land through Soil Water Conservation and Improved Fertilizer Application on Pothwar plateau in Punjab Province, Pakistan

“…Intensive nutrient uptake by the crops and insufficient nutrients input through fertilizers are among the major constraints related to declining crop yields in Pothwar region (Jilani et al, 2007). The soil with adequate fertility can help crop plants better utilize the available soil water.…”

“…Plant nutrients N, P, Zn and B were applied as improved fertilizer application treatment because these nutrients showed alarming deficiency in experimental areas in soil analysis ( Table 1). The term improved /balanced fertilizer application in this study means application of deficient nutrients and other fertilizers at recommended rates based on several studies carried out in rainfed area (Shafiq et al, 2003;Jilani et al, 2007;Shaheen et al, 2010). There were four treatments as described below:…”