Phosphate solubilizing characteristics of Talaromyces aurantiacus and its growthpromoting effect on Phyllostachys edulis seedlings

Abstract

To investigate phosphate-solubilizing characteristics and plant growth-promoting effect of Talaromyces aurantiacus (JXBR04) from Phyllostachys edulis rhizosphere soil, the influence of culture time, carbon sources, nitrogen sources, initial pH, liquid filling volume, and salt ions on phosphate solubilizing ability of strain JXBR04 were examined. The capability to solubilize different types of mineral phosphate was detected using a liquid fermentation method. A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of strain JXBR04 in promoting the growth of Ph. edulis seedlings. The results showed that strain JXBR04 displayed the highest phosphate-dissolving capacity when the cultivation period was 7 days, the initial pH reached 3.5, the volume of liquid was 1/5 or 2/5, and the NaCl concentration was 0 or 1.0 g·L-1. The phosphate-dissolving ability of the strain was the highest when using sugar as carbon source and yeast powder as nitrogen source. The strain had the greatest ability to solubilize CaHPO4 with 1304.04 mg·L-1, followed by Ca3(PO4)2 and FePO4. We found that available nutrients, leaf, stem, and root phosphorus contents in rhizospheric soil significantly increased in Ph. edulis after 180 days of inoculation with strain JXBR04. In addition, Ph. edulis inoculated with strain JXBR04 had 28.1%, 28.3%, and 51.5% higher ground diameter, seedling height, and biomass accumulation than that without JXBR04, respectively. Our findings suggested that T. aurantiacus has the potential to be applied as environment-friendly biofertilizers in maso bamboo forest in the acid soil in southern China.