A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of phosphate solublizing bacteria (PSB) on growth and yield of tomato. PSB culture was applied through soil and seedling root dip before transplanting with two levels of phosphorus fertilizers, i.e., 75% and 100% of recommended P, and compared. Results revealed that application of 100% P with seedling dip in PSB 1:10 solution recorded significantly higher plant height (86.30cm), leaf area index (3.52), number of fruits/plant (16.32), fruit weight (77.75g), fruit yield/plant (1125g) and yield (392.26 q/ha) compared to other treatment combinations, except 100% P with 5kg/ha soil application of PSB. The same treatment also recorded the highest (3.41) cost:benefit ratio. However, no significant difference was noticed in 100% recommended P with seedling dip in PSB solution, or soil application

Dhaka, B L

Poonia, M K

English

Journal of Horticultural Sciences

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is one ofthe important vegetable crops grown throughout the year.Alkaline cultivable soil contains less available phosphorus.Due to higher concentration of calcium, whenever phosphaticfertilizers are applied in such soils, a large quantity getsimmobilized and becomes unavailable to the crop.Phosphorus is one of the most important mineral nutrientsfor plant growth and development. It is second only tonitrogen, limiting the growth of crops. Plants acquire P fromsoil.  However, most of the soil phosphorus, approximately95–99%, is present in the form of insoluble phosphates (AbouEl-Yazeid et al, 2007). As a result, the amount available toplants is usually a small proportion of the  total P. To increasethe availability of phosphorus to plants, farmers apply largequantities of phosphoric fertilizer. But, after application, alarge proportion of available phosphorus quickly turned intothe insoluble form (Rodriquez and Farag, 1999). Hence, avery small percentage of applied phosphorus is used by plants(Abd Alla, 1994). Several scientists (Asea  et al, 1988;Surange et al, 1995; Nahas, 1996; Dutton and Evans,1996;Gull et al, 2004) have reported the ability of differentbacterial species to solubilize insoluble inorganic phosphatecompounds. Phosphate solubilizing bacteria play animportant role in supplementing phosphorus to plants,allowing sustainable use of phosphate (Bhatacharya andJain, 2000). Soil and seed inoculation with phosphateEffect of phosphorus solublizing bacteria (PSB) on growth and yield in tomatoM.K. Poonia and B.L. DhakaKrishi Vigyan KendraMaharana Pratap University of Agriculture & TechnologyP.B. No. 4, Bundi-323001, IndiaE-mail : kumarmp03@rediffmail.comABSTRACTA field experiment was conducted to study the effect of phosphate solublizing bacteria (PSB) on growth and yieldof tomato. PSB culture was applied through soil and seedling root dip before transplanting with two levels ofphosphorus fertilizers, i.e., 75% and 100% of recommended P, and compared. Results revealed that application of100% P with seedling dip in PSB 1:10 solution recorded significantly higher plant height (86.30cm), leaf areaindex (3.52), number of fruits/plant (16.32), fruit weight (77.75g), fruit yield/plant (1125g) and yield (392.26 q/ha)compared to other treatment combinations, except 100% P with 5kg/ha soil application of PSB. The same treatmentalso recorded the highest (3.41) cost:benefit ratio. However, no significant difference was noticed in 100%recommended P with seedling dip in PSB solution, or soil application.Key words: Tomato, phosphorus, phosphoros solublizing bacteria, PSBsolubilizing bacteria (PSB) improves solubilization of fixedsoil phosphorus and of  applied phosphates, resulting in highercrop yields (Jones and Darrah, 1994; Toro et al, 1997;Bhatacharya and Jain, 2000). In this context, the presentstudy is designed to evaluate the effect of PSB on growthand yield in tomato crop.A field experiment was carried out at farmers’ fieldsduring Zaid 2010 (i.e., summer crop) to study the effect ofphosphate solubilizing bacterial strain on growth and yieldof tomato. Four week old seedlings of tomato weretransplanted on ridges in the field toward the end of Februarywith a spacing of 60cm x 45cm. Soil in the experimentalfield was clay loam in texture, slightly alkaline in reaction(pH 8.10), low in organic carbon content (0.38%), availableN (205.4 kg ha-1) and available P (18.1 kg ha-1) but high inavailable K (350 kg ha-1). This experiment included a controland four treatments (which were a combination of two levelsof P:75 and 100% of recommended P2O5, i.e., 80 kg ha-1and two modes of PSB inoculation (soil and root inoculation).Treatments applied were : T1 – 100 % ofrecommended P (Control) T2 - 75 % of recommended Pwith seedling dip in PSB 1:10 solution (1kg PSB:10 litrewater), T3-100 % of recommended P with seedling dip inPSB 1:10 solution (1kg PSB:10 litre water), T4 - 75 % ofrecommended P with soil application of PSB@ 5kg ha-1Short communicationJ. Hortl. Sci.Vol. 7(1):104-107, 2012105Effect of PSB on growth and yield in tomatoand T5 - 100 % of recommended P with soil application ofPSB @ 5kg ha-1. These treatments were arranged in arandomized block design and replicated four times. The Nand K fertilizers in all treatments including control wereapplied as per recommended package of practices for theregion and the PSB was supplied by IFFCO. Full amount ofP as per treatments was applied just before transplantingthrough drilling in rows. Observations on growth parameterslike plant height, leaf area index and yield attributingcharacteristics i.e. no. of fruits/plant, fruit weight (g), fruityield/ plant, fruit yield (q/ ha) were recorded. Theexperimental data were subjected to statistical analysis ofvariance and test of significance through the procedureappropriate to the Randomized Block Design (Panse andSukhatme,1989).The plant height and leaf area index are consideredto be an important factor to judge the efficacy of phosphorussolublizing bacteria and were found to increase to asignificant level with the application of phosphorus solublizingbacteria. The results in Table 1 revealed that the applicationof 100% recommended P with seedling dip in PSB 1:10solution significantly increased plant height and leaf areaindex over control as well as other treatments. The treatmentT3 (100% P with seedling dip in PSB 1:10 solution) increasedplant height (86.30cm) and leaf area index (3.52). Theincrease in growth characters might be due to stimulativeeffect of PSB on P solubilization leading to higher P availabilityand uptake by plants (Han et al, 2006; Kim et al,1997;Sharma et al,2007 and Turan et al,2007). Higher microbialactivity in rhizosphere expressed as activity of hydrogenase,phosphates and nitrogenase enzymes was also reported (El-Tantawy and Mohamed, 2009).The results illustrated in Table 1 indicate thatapplication of 100% of recommended P with seedling dip inPSB 1:10 solution was superior for enhancing number offruit per plant and fruit size of tomato. This observationmay be due to role of PSB inoculation in benefiting plantgrowth by improving root development, mineral uptake andplant water relationship. In addition to increased P availability,PSB also reported to produce growth promoting substanceswhich might enhance the crop growth. These hormones fromPSB might have increased the various endogenous hormonallevels in plant tissue, that may enhance pollen germinationand tube growth, which ultimately increased the fruit set.The higher fruit set may also be due to higher percentageof productive flowers.It is clear from the data presented in Table-1 thatapplication of 100 % of recommended P with seedling dipin PSB 1:10 solution (T3)  treatment was the superior forincreasing the total yield (392.26q/ha) which is significantlyhigher over control and at par with T5. The highest yieldmight be due to the high yield contributing characters likenumber of fruits per plant and average fruit weight.Solubilization of ‘P’ from insoluble and fixed / adsorbed formsis an important aspect regarding P availability in soils.Microbial biomass assimilates soluble P, and prevents it fromadsorption or fixation (Khan and Joergensen, 2009).Microbial community influences soil fertility through soilprocesses viz. decomposition, mineralization, and storage /release of nutrients. Microorganisms enhance the Pavailability to plants by mineralizing organic P in soil and bysolubilizing precipitated phosphates (Chen et al, 2006; Kanget al, 2002 and Pradhan and Sukla, 2005). These bacteriain the presence of labile carbon serve as a sink for P byrapidly immobilizing it even in low P soils (Bünemann et al,2004). Subsequently, PSB become a source of P to plantsupon its release from their cells. Similar results were reportedin tomato (El-Tantawy and Mohamed, 2009 and Shukla etal, 2009), Cauliflower (Kachari and Korla, 2009), turmeric(Padmapriya and Chezhiyan, 2009), pea (Chaykovskaya etal,2001)  and guava (Dutta et al, 2009).Table 2 indicated that the highest net return (Rs.242607.41) and benefit: cost ratio of 3.41 was recorded with100% of recommended P with seedling dip in PSB 1:10solution (T3). This may be attributed to high yield recordedin this treatment. Similar observation were also reported inTable 1. Effect of phosphorous solublizing bacteria on the growth and yield attributes of tomato.Treatments Plant height Leaf area No. of fruits / Fruit Fruit yield/ Fruit yield(cm) index  plant weight (g) plant (q/ ha)T175.88 2.96 14.93 67.18 978.75 344.16T281.05 3.20 15.49 73.38 1040.00 364.61T386.30 3.53 16.32 77.75 1125.00 392.26T480.70 3.21 15.44 72.90 1038.75 362.47T585.58 3.51 16.24 76.98 1122.50 389.93CD (P=0.05) 1.21 0.076 0.37 1.27 7.19 4.41SEm+ 0.96 0.060 0.29 1.01 5.70 3.50J. Hortl. Sci.Vol. 7(1):104-107, 2012106tomato (Premsekhar and Rajashree, 2009), clusterbean(Dadhich and Gupta 2001) and wheat (Singh et al, 2009).It could be concluded that root inoculation with PSB1:10 solution (1kg PSB:10 litre water) in the presence of100% P (full recommended P2O5 dose) significantlyincreased plant height, leaf area index, number and yield offruits per plant, fruit weight and yield per hectare. The highestnet return and cost: benefit ratio were also recorded withthe same treatment.REFERENCESAbd Alla, M.H. 1994. Phosphatases and the utilization oforganic phosphorus by Rhizobium leguminosarumbiovar viceae. Lett. Appl.  Microbiol., 18: 294-296Abou El-Yazeid, A Abou–Aly, H.E, Magdy, M.A. andMousa, S.A.M. 2007. Enhancing growth, productivityand quality of squash plant using phosphate dissolvingmicroorganisms (Bio phosphor) combined with boronfoliar spray. Res. J. Agric. & Biol. Sci., 3: 274–286Asea, P.E.A., Kucey, R.M.N. and Stewart, J.W.B. 1988.Inorganic phosphate solubilization by two Penicilliumspecies in solution culture and soil. Soil Biol.Biochem., 20: 459-464Bhatacharya, P. and Jain, R.K. 2000. PhosphorousSolublizing Biofertilizers in the whirl pool of rockphosphate-challenges and opportunities. Fert. News,45:45-52Bünemann, E. K., Bossio, D. A., Smithson, P. C., Frossard,E. and Oberson, A. 2004. Microbial communitycomposition and substrate use in a highly weatheredsoil as affected by crop rotation and P fertilization.Soil Biol. Biochem. 36:889-901Chaykovskaya, L.A., Patyka, V.P. and Melnychuk, T.M.2001. Phosphorus mobilizing microorganisms andtheir influence on the productivity of plants. In (W.J.Horst, Eds.) Plant Nutrition-Food Security andSustainability of Agroecosystems, pp: 668-669Chen, Y. P., Rekha, P. D., Arunshen,  A. B., Lai, W. A. andYoung, C. C: 2006. Phosphate solubilizing bacteriafrom subtropical soil and their tricalcium phosphatesolubilizing abilities. Appl. Soil Ecol., 34:33-41Dadhich, L.K. and Gupta, A. 2001. Effect of phosphatesolubilizing bacteria and phosphorus on the growthpattern of clusterbean. Annals of Biol,  17:107 110.Dutta, P.  Maji, S.B. and Das, B.C. 2009. Studies on theresponse of bio-fertilizer on growth and productivityof guava. Indian J. Hort., 66:39-42Dutton, V. M. and Evans, C. S. 1996. Oxalate productionby fungi: its role in pathogenicity and ecology in thesoil environment. Can. J. Microbiol., 42:881-895El-Tantawy,  M.E. and Mohamed, M.A.N. 2009. Effect ofInoculation with Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria onthe Tomato Rhizosphere Colonization Process, PlantGrowth and Yield under Organic and InorganicFertilization. J. Appld Sci. Res., 5:1117-1131Gull, M., Hafeez, F. Y., Saleem, M. and Malik, K. A. 2004.Phosphorus uptake and growth promotion of chickpeaby co-inoculation of mineral phosphate solubilizingbacteria and a mixed rhizobial culture. Aust. J. Exp.Agric., 44:623-628Han, H.S.; Supanjani and Lee, K.D. 2006. Effect of co-inoculation with phosphate and potassium solubilizingbacteria on mineral uptake and growth of pepper andcucumber. Plant Soil Environ., 52:130-136Jones, D.L. and Darrah, P.R. 1994. Role of root derivedorganic acids in the mobilization of nutrients from therhizosphere, Plant Soil, 166: 247-257Kang, S. C., Hat, C. G., Lee, T. G. and Maheshwari, D. K.2002. Solubilization of insoluble inorganic phosphatesby a soil-inhabiting fungus Fomitopsis sp. PS 102.Curr. Sci. 82:439-442Kim, K.Y., Jordon, D. and McDonald, G.A. 1997. Effect ofPhosphate- solubilizing bacteria and vesicular –arbuscular mycorrhizae on tomato growth and soilmicrobial activity. Biology and Fertility of Soils,265:79-87Khan, K. S. and Joergensen, R. G.; 2009. Changes inmicrobial biomass and P fractions in biogenichousehold waste compost amended with inorganic Pfertilizers. Bioresour. Technol.,100:303-309Kachari  Manisha and Korla, B.N., 2009. Effect ofbiofertilizers on growth and yield of cauliflower cv.PSB K-1. Indian J. Hort., 66:496-501Nahas, E. 1996. Factors determining rock phosphatesolubilization by microorganism isolated from soil.World J. Microb. Biotechnol., 12:18-23Table 2. Effect of phosphorous solublizing bacteria on theeconomics of tomato crop.Treatments Gross return Net return B:C(Rs) (Rs) ratioT1275325.19 204825.19 2.91T2291688.89 221288.89 3.14T3313807.41 242607.41 3.41T4289974.07 219674.07 3.12T5311940.00 241040.00 3.40CD (P=0.05) 3529.73 3529.73 0.05SEm+ 2801.23 2801.23 0.04 Poonia and DhakaJ. Hortl. Sci.Vol. 7(1):104-107, 2012107Padmapriya, S. and Chezhiyan, N. 2009. Effect of shade,organic, inorganic and biofertilizers on morphology,yield and quality of turmeric. Indian J. Hort.,66:333-339Panse, V.G. and Sukhatme, P.V. 1989. Statistical methodsfor agricultural workers, ICAR, New DelhiPradhan, N. and Sukla, L. B. 2005. Solubilization of inorganicphosphate by fungi isolated from agriculture soil.African J. Biotechnol., 5:850-854Premsekhar, M. and. Rajashree, V. 2009: Influence of bio-fertilizers on the growth characters, yield attributes,yield and quality of tomato: Am.-Eurasian J. Sustain.Agric., 3:68-70Rodriquez, H. and Farag, R. 1999. Phosphate solubilizingbacteria and their role in plant growth promotion.Biotechnol. Adv., 17:319- 339Sharma, K., Dak, G., Agrawal, A., Bhatnagar, M. andSharma, R. 2007. Effect of phosphate solubilizingbacteria on the germination of Cicer arietinum seedsand seedling growth. J. Herb. Med. Toxicol.,1:61-63Shukla,  Y.R.,  Thakur , A.K. and Joshi, A. 2009. Effectof inorganic and bio-fertilizers on yield andhorticultural traits in tomato. Indian J. Hort.,66:131-133Singh, R., Singh, B. and Patidar, M. 2009. Effect ofpreceding crops and nutrient management onproductivity of wheat (Triticum aestivum) basedcropping system in arid region. Indian J. of Agron.,52:267 272Surange, S., Wollum, A. G., Kumar, N. and Nautiyal, C. S.1995. Characterization of Rhizobium from rootnodules of leguminous trees growing in alkaline soils.Can. J. Microbiol., 43:891-894Toro, M., Azcon, R. and Barea, J.M. 1997. Improvement ofArbuscular Mycorrhiza Development by Inoculationof Soil with Phosphate-Solubilizing Rhizobacteria ToImprove Rock Phosphate Bioavailability ((sup32) P)and Nutrient Cycling, Appl. Environ. Microbiol, 63:4408-4412Turan, M. Ataoglu, N. and Sahin, F. 2007. Effect of BacillusFS-3 on growth of tomato (Lycopersiconesculentum L.) plant and availability of phosphorusin soil. Plant Soil Environ., 53:58-64 (MS Received 13 January 2012, Revised 4 May 2012)Effect of PSB on growth and yield in tomatoJ. Hortl. Sci.Vol. 7(1):104-107, 2012

Effect of Phosphorus Solublizing Bacteria (PSB) on Growth and Yield in Tomato

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Journal of Horticultural Sciences

Directory of Open Access Journals