Effect of Phosphorus Solubilizing Bacteria on Soil Available Phosphorus and Growth and Yield of Sugarcane

Abstract

Phosphorus solubilizing bacteria (PSB) can increase soil phosphorus (P) availability and improve plant growth, yield, and phosphorus content of several crops. The experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of PSB on soil available phosphorus, growth, and yield of sugarcane at field conditions. Kosakonia radicincitans (PSB1) and Bacillus subtilis (PSB2) were applied with two different sources of phosphorus fertilizers: Di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and rock phosphate (RP). The application of PSB with phosphorus fertilizers enhanced the yield from 17.03 to 38.42 % over no application of fertilizer. It also increased the percentage of commercial cane sugar percent (CCS %) from 4.8 to 19.96 % over control. The application of PSB2 with DAP showed effective results in available phosphorus content in the soil and yield of sugarcane. The PSB population and the available phosphorus contents were higher in treatments when phosphorus was given partly through RP and DAP than the control. The application of phosphorus fertilizer and PSB increased phosphorus fractions in the soil. The addition of phosphorus fertilizer to soil increased all the inorganic phosphorus fractions in soil. The treatments with PSB resulted in statistical differences in total phosphorus concentrations in the soil. The application of PSB with RP (T6, T7, and T8) showed the highest weight among the treatment at the harvesting time. The yield of sugarcane was highest in the application of PSB2 with either DAP or RP (T4 and T7). HIGHLIGHTS Evaluate the effect of Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria (PSB) (Kosakonia radicincitans and Bacillus subtills) comminated with two different phosphorus (di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and rock phosphate (RP) fertilizers on the changes in the soil available phosphorus level and sugarcane growth at Sa Kaeo Province, Thailand The application of P fertilizer and PSB can increase the inorganic P fractions in the soil and increased the cane yield over NPK without PSB The PSB application either single or co-inoculation of PSBs increased the average cane more than 13 % to over control