M. Deilamirad; Mohammad Reza Sarikhani; Sh. Oustan
Abstract
Introduction: Potassium is a major and essential plant macronutrient and the most abundant absorbed cation in higher plants. Potassium (K) plays an important role in the growth, metabolism, and development of plants. There are three forms of potassium found in the soil viz., soil minerals, nonexchangeable ...
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Introduction: Potassium is a major and essential plant macronutrient and the most abundant absorbed cation in higher plants. Potassium (K) plays an important role in the growth, metabolism, and development of plants. There are three forms of potassium found in the soil viz., soil minerals, nonexchangeable and available form. Soil minerals make up more than 90 to 98 percent of soil potassium. It is tightly bound and most of it is unavailable for plant uptake. Plants can uptake potassium only from the soil solution. Many indigenous soil microorganisms have the potential to absorb and mobilize the fixed form of nutrients from trace mineral sources. The use of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria including potassium-solubilizing bacteria as a biofertilizer could work as a sustainable solution to improve plant nutrient uptake and production. In this study the effect of five isolates of Pseudomonas were assessed on the growth and K uptake of tomato in two different soils with less than 200 mg/kg and more than 400 mg/kg available potassium.
Materials and Methods In this study, two different soil, Khalat pushan (K 400 mg/kg) were used. All the isolates including S6-6, S10-3, S14-3, S19-1 and S21-1 used in this study belonged to Pseudomonas genus and their potential were examined as a potassium releasing bacteria (KRB). Bacterial isolates were cultured in NB medium and were used in pot experiments. Experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications in two different soils by application of five bacterial isolates and the control without inoculum. Tomato seeds were inoculated with bacterial isolates in non-sterile soil and in the presence of indigenous soil microflora and the experiment continued until the beginning of the reproductive phase. The rate of inoculation was 10 ml of bacteria per pot. Growth and nutritional parameters such as dry weight of shoot and root, chlorophyll index, content of K and P in plant tissue were measured. Data analysis was performed by SPSS software, and the means were compared at α꞊5% by Duncan test.
Results and Discussion: The results of statistical analysis in the soil with less than 200 mg/kg available potassium (Khalatpoushan) showed the significant effect of bacterial inoculation on chlorophyll index, shoot and root dry weight and potassium and phosphorus content in shoot and root in bacterial treatments compared to the control. The highest amount of chlorophyll index, shoot dry weight and shoot absorption of potassium and phosphorus was accounted for S21-1. The highest amount of root dry weight and root absorption of potassium and phosphorus was accounted for S14-3.The results of second experiment in soil with more than 400 mg/kg available potassium (soil collected from Kandovan) showed that the measured properties were not affected by bacterial treatments. The highest amount of chlorophyll index was achieved by S14-3. The highest uptake of shoot potassium and phosphorus were recorded in plants which were inoculated by S14-3 and S21-1; however, the differences were not significant. While in this study we did not measure released K by bacteria in in-vitro condition but in the previous studies, their ability in K releasing from mica minerals such as muscovite and biotite had been measured and reported. Production of organic acid is one mechanism which proposed to explain potassium releasing ability of potassium releasing bacteria. It seems that this mechanism has the role in P solubilization, K releasing and solubilizing other nutients by plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR).
Conclusions: These results suggested that plant growth stimulating efficiency of bacterial inoculants affected by soil nutritional condition. The bacterial inoculation had a much better stimulatory effect on plant growth in soils with low available potassium. In this experiment, two isolates, S21-1 and S14-3 were better than the other isolates. Study in this area should be done especially in isolation and identification of potassium releasing bacteria from different soil samples. In the next step, these isolates should be tested in different soils under different climate conditions of the country, to choose robust and efficient isolate and intorduce them as KSB biofertilizer in counntry. It was the first report in Iran to test Pseudomonas isolates as KSB, while in the previous studies other genera especially bacteria belonged to Bacillus was reported in Iran.
Mohammad Reza Sarikhani; O. madani; Sh. Oustan
Abstract
Introduction: Potassium (K) is one of the major essential macronutrients for biological growth and development. The ability of some bacteria to release potassium from unavailable forms is an important feature for increasing plant yields of high-K-demand crops. Application of soil microorganisms is one ...
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Introduction: Potassium (K) is one of the major essential macronutrients for biological growth and development. The ability of some bacteria to release potassium from unavailable forms is an important feature for increasing plant yields of high-K-demand crops. Application of soil microorganisms is one approach to enhance crop growth. Some bacteria are efficient in releasing K from mineral sources and in recent years in order to produce and make of potassium biofertilizers, attention to the potassium releasing bacteria has been increased. Production of organic acids and acidic polysaccharides by the microorganisms are the main mechanisms by which K is released. Microorganisms play a central role in the natural P and K cycles. Many microorganisms in the soil are able to solubilize ‘unavailable’ forms of K-bearing minerals, such as micas, illite and orthoclases, by excreting organic acids which either directly dissolves rock K or chelate silicon ions to bring the K into solution. Recently, attention to the release of potassium from bacteria has been increased because some of efficient bacteria can be used as potassium biofertilizers to meet plant K needs. Hence, the objectives of this study were to in-vitro assessment of potassium releasing of some isolates belonged to Pseudomonas genus.
Materials and Methods: A laboratory dissolution study was carried out using a completely randomized design with three replicates. The factorial experiment contained two factors; 1-bacteria (including five bacterial treatments and un-inoclated treatment) and 2- mica minerals (including biotite and muscovite). Micas flakes were powdered and passed through a 0.5 mm sieve. Available forms of K were removed by washing with 0.1 M HCl and then distilled water, before adding the minerals to Aleksandrov medium For this reason, a microbial incubation study in the Aleksandrov liquid medium containing mica and tricalcium phosphate was designed for a period of one month and 5 strains of potassium releasing bacteria belonged to the genus Pseudomonas (S6-6, S10-3, S14-3, S19-1 and S21-1) along with the un-inoculated treatment (control) were applied. In this experiment, the release of potassium and phosphorus in liquid Aleksandrov medium were measured at intervals of 5 days in incubation period of 30 days. Nutrient Broth was used to prepare an overnight culture of bacteria to inoculate Aleksandrov medium. It should be mentioned that Aleksandrov medium was used to determine the amount of released P from tricalcium phosphate (TCP) while muscovite was added to the medium as a sole source of potassium. Concentration of P was determined spectrophotometrically by ammonium-vanadate-molybdate method and K was determined by flame photometry.
Results: The results showed that dissolved potassium and phosphorus in the inoculated medium were significantly increased and the amount of potassium released by the isolates was between 2.17 and 3.23 mg g-1 and the highest potassium release was achieved with isolate S14-3 (3.23 mg g-1), which that compared to the non-bacterial control showed an increase of 48.85 %, and significant difference was found with other isolates. Bacterial incubation experiment indicated the ability of isolates to release potassium from K-containing minerals such as biotite and muscovite and the XRD analysis revealed an alter in chemical structure of clay minerals. Especially, presence of 19.5Å peak in muscovite (saturated with magnesium) treated with isolate S14-3 showed the released space of K from the interlayer is filled or associated with a number of bacterial metabolites. It seems that the same mechanisms could be effective in releasing K from micas and P from TCP, in other words there is a co-solubilizing mechanism for mica and TCP.
Discussion and conclusion: It appears tha depletion of potassium from minerals has occurred but further tests will confirm this topic. The enhanced releasing of mineral K might be attributed to the release of organic acids from the bacteria, a mechanism which plays a pivotal role in solubilizing phosphate from inorganic source of phosphate. The mechanism of potassium release from minerals is still not clear. Productions of acids or chelates are main mechanisms to release K from potassium containing minerals. Among the bacterial strains under study, Pseudomonas sp. S14-3 was the most efficient strain in K release from micas and phosphate solubilization from TCP. However, more experiments need to be done especially in pot and field experiments to study the role of these strains in K nutrition of crops.
