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International Conference on

Recent Trends in Environmental Sustainability

ESCON22/SAgri/07
Developing microbial biofertilizer for arid agriculture

Madiha Habib, Sohail Hameed, Naheed Malik, Sobia Irum
Department of Biosciences, University of Wah, Wah Cantt, Pakistan

Correspondence: dr.sohail.hameed@uow.edu.pk
Abstract

Phosphorus is one of the major growth-limiting macronutrients required for healthier plant
growth and yield, particularly in arid areas. Phosphorous is essential in most aspect of plant
growth and development, from the molecular level to many physiological and biochemical
plant activities including photosynthesis, energy production, development of roots, crop
maturity and quality, resistance to plant diseases and involved in transporting genetic traits.
Although sufficient amount of phosphorous is present in agricultural soil but generally it is
unavailable for plant growth because of fixation and immobilization. Phosphate solubilizing
microorganisms (PSMs) are group of beneficial bacteria capable of hydrolyzing insoluble form
of phosphorous into soluble form (orthophosphates). The present study aims to develop bio
fertilizers for various crop plants utilizing both symbiotic and a symbiotic soil bacteria isolated
particularly from arid areas and to establish their quality for long term preservation and shelf
life. A total of thirteen (10) Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) were isolated and
purified from soil collected from Fatah Jang(33.7660° N, 72.3609° E) and jhang bather of
District Attock, Punjab. PGPR isolates were characterized through colony & cell morphology
using gram staining and their biochemical characterization for catalase, amylase, starch
hydrolysis and plant growth promoting traits, i.e., phosphorous solubilization, indole acetic
acid production, nitrogen fixation and zinc solubilization. It was found that out of initial 10, 6
isolates were nitrogen fixers. Phosphorous solubilization activity was detected in 3 isolates
FSY1, FSY2 and FSY3. Bacterial isolates were also tested for Zinc solubilization, and all ten
(10) isolates were found positive for zinc solubilization. Out of 10 isolates 7 isolates were
screened positive for amylase production and 8 isolates were found positive for Catalase
activity. Moreover, 6 isolates were positive for Indole Acetic Acid (IAA) production. Four
bacterial isolates, FSY1, FSY2, FSL1 and FSL3, selected on the basis of their phosphorous
solubilization, nitrogen fixation and IAA producing abilities were selected for quality
assurance using viable cell count method. four bacterial isolates with multi-functional
characters were used in colony PCR for PqqE gene Amplification to confirm their phosphate
solubilization ability. In addition, growth promoting abilities of 10 isolates fsl1, fsl2, fsl3, fsl4,
fsl5, fsy1, fsy2, jsl1, jsl2 and jsy2 were evaluated on Maize (Zea maize) crop plants for various
growth parameter in a field experiment at Fateh Jang under extreme arid conditions. Plants
growth parameters like height, stem thickness and the yield were determined. Reportedly all
PGPR inoculations enhanced the growth of Maize. However, out of 12 isolates five isolates
namely FSL3, FSL5, JSL2, fSY1 and fSY2 showed significantly higher plant growth and yield
as compared with the un-inoculated control. The study concludes that significantly low-cost
bio fertilizers can be developed and effectively utilized for enhanced crop yields using
characterized plant growth promoting rhizobacteria, isolated and utilized indigenously from
highly arid areas.

Keywords: biofertilizer; phosphorous; PSMs

Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari Campus

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