Influence of Streptomyces sp. Kp109810 on Solubilization of Inorganic Phosphate and Growth of Maize (Zea mays L.)

Phosphorus plays a major role in plant growth, but only a small portion of phosphorus in soil is taken up by plants and the remaining part becomes unavailable for plants. Phosphate solubilizing microorganisms play a vital role in dissolving the complex form of phosphates to the accessible forms. The present paper reports the solubilization of tricalcium phosphate (TCP), single super phosphate (SSP), rock phosphate (RP), iron phosphate (FeP) and aluminum phosphate (AlP) by Streptomyces sp < em>. KP109810 (S) with the production of organic acids as well as acid phosphatase. The amount of phosphate released (562 mg l^–1) was found to be the highest in the case of single super phosphate, as compared to the other phosphate sources. The highest phosphatase activity was observed in the presence of iron phosphate (0.033 Uml–1). The proposed thin layer chromatography (TLC) method was used to analyze the organic acids in culture broths of the following P sources. The numbers of these organic acids were six organic acids from SSP, seven from RP, four organic acids from FeP and two for each of AlP and TCP. The effects of Streptomyces sp. KP109810 on P solubilization from different P sources, plant biomass production, and P content of maize (Zea mays L.) were examined in a greenhouse study. A complementary greenhouse experiment was conducted in pots by growing maize as a test crop. Our findings showed a great efficient promotion of maize growth and P content compared to un-inoculated plants. Furthermore, single supper phosphate showed better results than rock phosphate, the latter performed comparably upon Streptomyces inoculation. These findings demonstrate that Streptomyces sp. KP109810 can improve crop growth and P nutrition.