Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

MICROBIOLOGICAL CHELATION OF IRON

Prateek Shilpkar, S.C. Bhandari and Mayur Shah

Abstract

Lab-cum-pot experiment was conducted to evaluate chelated iron solutions (supernatant) prepared by aerobic fermentation (64 days) of fresh cow dung-water mixtures (1:5 ratio w/v) supplemented either with Saccharomyces cerevisiae and/or ferrous sulphate (5, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50g1.1). Result show that the pH of chelating solutions decreased initially up to 55 days and increased thereafter. Increasing concentration of FeSO, resulted in significantly increased content of phosphorus, manganese and zinc in supernatant whereas their content decreased significantly in sediment but iron concentration increased significantly in both supernatant and sediment. Iron chelated supernatant solution (20g FeSO, 1.;') had significantly higher concentration of Mn and Zn compared of those of supplemented with less of FeSO, and was at par to higher ones.These chelated supernatant solutions were sprayed on soybean (Glycine max) variety PK-472.At harvest of crop result show that yield and N, P, Fe and Mn uptake were significantly superior under plants sprayed with chelated solution (20g FeSO41:1).Available nutrients status of soil at harvest (N, P, Fe and Mn) was significantly higher under plants sprayed with chelated iron solution (20g FeSO,L).