Abstract
BackgroundSince the World’s population is increasing, it’s critical to boost agricultural productivity to meet the rising demand for food and reduce poverty. Fertilizers are widely used in traditional agricultural methods to improve crop yield, but they have a number of negative environmental consequences such as nutrient losses, decrease fertility and polluted water and air. Researchers have been focusing on alternative crop fertilizers mechanisms to address these issues in recent years and nanobiofertilizers have frequently been suggested. “Nanophos” is a biofertilizer and contains phosphate-solubilising bacteria that solubilises insoluble phosphate and makes it available to the plants for improved growth and productivity as well as maintain soil health. This study evaluated the impact of nanophos on the growth and development of maize plants and its rhizospheric microbial community such as NPK solubilising microbes, soil enzyme activities and soil protein under field condition after 20, 40 and 60 days in randomized block design.ResultsMaize seeds treated with nanophos showed improvement in germination of seeds, plant height, number of leaves, photosynthetic pigments, total sugar and protein level over control. A higher activity of phenol, flavonoid, antioxidant activities and yield were noticed in nanophos treated plants over control. Positive shift in total bacterial count, nitrogen fixing bacteria, phosphate and potassium solubilizers were observed in the presence of nanophos as compared to control. Soil enzyme activities were significantly (P < 0.05) improved in treated soil and showed moderately correlation between treatments estimated using Spearman rank correlation test. Real time PCR and total soil protein content analysis showed enhanced microbial population in nanophos treated soil. Obtained results showed that nanophos improved the soil microbial population and thus improved the plant growth and productivity.ConclusionThe study concluded a stimulating effect of nanophos on Zea mays health and productivity and indicates good response towards total bacterial, NPK solubilising bacteria, soil enzymes, soil protein which equally showed positive response towards soil nutrient status. It can be a potential way to boost soil nutrient use efficiency and can be a better alternative to fertilizers used in the agriculture.
Highlights
Since the World’s population is increasing, it’s critical to boost agricultural productivity to meet the rising demand for food and reduce poverty
The main objectives of the study were to assess the impact of nanophos on different growth parameters of maize plants like seed germination, plant height, chlorophyll, carotenoid, protein, sugar, phenolics content, yield of maize and soil health parameters like NPK bacterial count, soil enzymes activities and evaluate bacterial population of maize rhizosphere using Quantative PCR (qPCR) and soil microbial protein
Seed germination assay Maize seeds treated with nanophos positively influenced the seed germination rate
Summary
Since the World’s population is increasing, it’s critical to boost agricultural productivity to meet the rising demand for food and reduce poverty. “Nanophos” is a biofertilizer and contains phosphate-solubilising bacteria that solubilises insoluble phosphate and makes it available to the plants for improved growth and productivity as well as maintain soil health. Present agricultural practices face major challenges like decline in agricultural productivity and deterioration in sustainability of agro-ecosystem worldwide. Food production cannot be sustainable unless a soil has a sufficient and proactive microbial population [1]. Agricultural yield of major crops is severely low due to injudicious application of agrochemicals and nutrient insufficiency that rigorously affects overall plant and soil health. Nanotechnology is an innovative field of science with applications in a variety of fields, including food and agriculture [2]. Combined application of bioformulated plant useful microorganisms and nanocompounds were traditionally used as an effective replacement for chemical fertilizers in ancient times
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