Sumera Yasmin
National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Pakistan
Title: Phosphate solubilizing bacteria for sustainable management of phosphorus in Pakistani soils
Biography
Biography: Sumera Yasmin
Abstract
Phosphorus (P) is one of the major essential macronutrient for plant metabolic processes. Phosphorous in soil is abundantly found as mineral or organic phosphorous. Despite its abundance available P for plant uptake is scarce. To meet the plant requirement chemical application of phosphatic fertilizer is practiced to secure the crop production but excessive deposition of P in soil and water after run-off not just deplete P reserves also lead to chains of events that cause irreversible damages to ecosystems. A group of plant growth promoting organism including both heterotrophic bacteria and fungi play a central role in the natural phosphorus cycle capable of transforming insoluble and unavailable P into soluble and plant accessible forms across different genera. These are phosphate solubilizing microorganisms (PSM). Efficient phosphobacteria were isolated, characterized and identified to develop phosphatic biofertilizers for utilizing the fixed and unavailable forms of phosphate in Pakistani soils. Qualitative and quantitative methods have been used to optimize the P-solubilization by the bacterial strains for different environmental factors. The selected phosphobacteria were explored for P-solubilizing mechanisms using HPLC. These bacteria were found to have growth promoting determinants i.e., phytohormone and siderophores production and biocontrol potential. In planta assays suggested these effective phosphobacteria can help in the development of an eco-friendly means for P nutrition of crops.