Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 12
Inoculation Impact of Phosphate-Solubilizing
Microorganisms on Growth
and Development of Vegetable Crops
Asfa Rizvi, Md. Saghir Khan, and Ees Ahmad
Abstract
Vegetables are one of the important food components of dietary systems
in many countries including Asian regions. It provides some of the essential
nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, and fats and therefore plays a critical
role in the human health. Vegetables while growing in soil require significant
amounts of phosphorus for better biological growth and optimum yields. The
soluble and available forms of phosphorous in soil are, however, limited and not
accessible for uptake by vegetable crops. To this end, apart from chemical phos-
phatic fertilizers, one strategy to provide phosphorus to vegetable crops is the use of
phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms, which are ubiquitous and both inexpensive
and safe to the environment. Phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms secrete
organic acid which in turn solubilizes the complex forms of phosphorus and
makes it available to vegetable plants, besides exhibiting other growth-promoting
activities. Here, the impact of phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms onto the
growth and yield of vegetables is discussed and considered. This approach of
using PS microorganisms in vegetable cultivation is likely to help in reducing, if
not completely eliminating, the use of synthetic fertilizers in vegetable production
across different regions of the world.
Keywords
PSM • Vegetables • Synthetic fertilizers • Brinjal • Potato • Tomato
12.1
Introduction
Vegetables are the source of several important nutrients and form an intricate part
of our daily routine diets. For proper development and higher yields, vegetable
crops grown in different production systems rely hugely on various plant nutrients
