VARSHA NARSIAN AND H.H. PATEL
Abstract
Diversity of phosphate solubilizing microorganisms in rhizosphere soils of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, -vegetables and orchards in Bhanagar district was found to be distributed in 9 bacterial, 5 fungal and 8 yeast genera. Each rhizosphere had its own common, frequent and occasional phosphate solubilizing microbes. The most dominant bacterial genera were Bacillus and Pseudomonas; fungal genera include Aspergillus and Penicillium whereas yeast genera comprised of Debaryomyces, Hansen ula and Saccharomyces. Some of the phosphate solubilizers were found to occur in all rhizospheres but their frequency and percentage occurrence, on individual plant cover, varied. The maximum halo zone of phosphate solubilization was noted for Bacillus sp. and Pseudomonas sp. (1-20 nun), Aspergillus sp. and Penicillium sp. (2- 10 mm) and Debaryomyces sp., Geotrichum sp. and Issatchenkia sp. (2-6 mm). On the basis of phosphate solubilization efficiency the major groups of microorganism could be arranged in descending order: bacteria fungi yeast.