Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

IN VITRO PHOSPHATE SOLUBILIZATION BY R. LEGUMINOSARUM K4 ISOLATED FROM PEA (PISUM SATIVUM) RHIZOSPHERE

Pooja Manota and Chayanika Putatunda

Abstract

Phosphorus is one of the essential elements, which impact the proper growth and development of plants. But the soil phosphate tends to become insoluble very rapidly and hence is rendered unavailable to the plants. The aim of the present investigation was to isolate the bacteria which can solubilize the phosphate and make it available to the plants. Pea plant rhizoshpere soil (of Hoshiarpur district, Punjab, India) was used as the source of Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria (PSB). In the present investigation, 26 strains of PSB were obtained. The isolates were subjected to primary and secondary screening and the isolate K4 which showed highest phosphate solubilization during secondary screening was selected for subsequent studies. The isolate showed maximum phosphate solubilization under the following conditions: carbon sourceglucose, nitrogen source-ammonium sulphate and pH- 7. On the basis of 16srDNA sequencing, the isolate was found to be R. leguminosarum (Genebank Accession Number KJ940980).