Isolation and Characterization of Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria and Effect of Growth and Nutrient Uptake of Maize Under Pot and Field Conditions

Phosphorus deficiency is one of the main factors for limiting agricultural production. The use of Phosphate Soluble Bacteria (PSB) is an environmentally friendly solution to eliminate phosphorus deficiency. Isolation of PSB and determination of plant growth effects of maize were aimed at this study. For this purpose, 62 phosphate solubilizing rhizobacterial strains isolated from soil and the phosphate solubilization abilities of isolates were determined by laboratory, pot, and field trials. After laboratory trials with 62 strains, pot tests were established with 10 isolates. Inoculation of phosphorus PSB was increased plant height 19.38–54.25% and plant dry weight 12.32–67.63% under pot experiments. Field trials were conducted between 2014 and 2016 with two PSB (S. marcensens and P. brenneri) according to pot experiments. S. marcensens and P. brenneri increased yield of maize 32–33% in 2014 and 28–25% in 2015, respectively. Application of P. brenneri increased leaf P, K, and Mg content by 13%, 5%, 9%, and S. marcensens increased the same by 10%, 6%, 17%, respectively. P. brenneri and S. marcensens can be used as biological fertilizers as a promising and sustainable approach to maize productivity in P deficient soils.