Potassium Releasing Bacteria for Unlocking Soil Potassium- A Way Forward for Judicious Use of Chemical Fertilizers
Jeberlin Prabina Bright *
Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Killikulam, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Tamil Nadu, India.
Andrea Susan Baby
Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka, India.
Sugitha Thankappan
Department of Agriculture and Biosciences, KITS, Coimbatore 641 402, Tamil Nadu, India.
Aniya Susan George
Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Punjab Agricultural University, Punjab, India.
Hemant S. Maheshwari
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soybean Research, Khandwa Road, Indore 452001, India.
Rajinimala Nataraj
Department of Plant Pathology, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Killikulam, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Tamil Nadu, India.
Shakina Judson
Sarah Tucker College, Trinelveli, Tamil Nadu, India.
Asish K. Binodh
Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641003,India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Potassium (K) is one of the essential macronutrients required for the plants and its availability to plants is hampered due to its fixation with other ions. The Potassium Releasing Micro-organisms (KRMs) present in the soil are capable of converting the fixed form of potassium into an available form of K for the plants to uptake. Most commonly present potash releasing bacteria in rhizosphere soil belong to phylum Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria. These microbes produce organic acids, siderophores, biofilms for converting the insoluble K into a soluble form. They also produce some of the plant growth hormones, apart from providing abiotic and biotic stress resistance which results in enhanced yield and quality traits of the crop. The use of KRMs as bio-fertilizer could decrease the level of application of chemical fertilizers and thereby reduce the excess accumulation of potassium in the soil. The presence of sufficient numbers of Potash Releasing Bacteria (KRB) in the soil would ease the potassium transformation processes.
Keywords: Potash releasing microbe, organic acids, rhizosphere, siderophore, sustainable agriculture