Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 1
Microphos: Principles, Production
and Application Strategies
Almas Zaidi, Md. Saghir Khan, and Ees Ahmad
Abstract
The increasing demand for inexpensive, ecologically sound and environ-
mentally friendly agricultural practices has warranted the use of microbial fertil-
izers. The preparation from microbial inoculants (biofertilizers) especially the
organisms capable of transforming insoluble phosphorus (P) to soluble and avail-
able forms is one of the better choices for enhancing crop production by supplying
essential nutrients and other growth regulators in different production systems.
Furthermore, the critical interactions between microbial communities with soil
constituents and plants have provided some novel clues to better exploit them in
agricultural practices. Even though the use of microbial preparation in agriculture is
an old practice, the production of efficient inoculants expressing consistent perfor-
mance under field soil is a major obstacle in their extensive and practical appli-
cation. Therefore, the variations in the performance of microbial inoculants
including microphos have greatly hampered their large-scale application. On the
other hand, the selection of the technology for inoculant production and modes of
their application are key to their success. We highlight here the various strategies
employed to produce the phosphatic microbial inoculants (microphos), and how
this inoculants can be applied under different agro-ecological niches is discussed
and considered.
Keywords
Phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms • Microphos • Rhizosphere •
Phylogenetic tree • Plant growth regulators
