Isolation of phosphate solubilsing bacteria from rhizosphere of different black pepper (Piper nigrum) varieties in Kerala - An overview

Scientific Study from the year 2017 in the subject Agrarian Studies, grade: 1.5, Mar Augusthinose College, course: Biotechnology, language: English, abstract: Black pepper belongs to piperaceae family and is known as 'king of species'. This piperaceae family contain approximately 2,000 species. Phosphorus is one of the most important micronutrients and they are essential for the biological growth, development of plants and it is the most essential nutrient for plants. Phosphate deficiency is wide spread and phosphate fertilizers universally required in the form of inorganic P fertilizers, only a small portion is utilized by plants and the remaining are in insoluble form and they are solubilised by the microbes present in the soil. Soil, they are rich in micro and macronutrients and sixteen elements or nutrients are essential for plant growth and reproduction. Several soil bacteria, particularly belonging to the genera Pseudomonas and Bacillus posses ability to bring insoluble soil phosphate into soluble forms by secreting acids like formic, lactic and acetic. The rhizosphere soil sample were serially diluted up to 10-4 using sterile distilled water and plated on Pikovskaya's agar medium by pour plate method. The P solubilising isolates was evaluated on agar plates of Pikovaskya growth medium by solubilising the tricalcium phosphate of the medium. After incubation the phosphate solubilising microorganisms were selected based on different colonies. Out of so many bacterial isolates, 8 isolates were selected for the further study to perform qualitative and quantitative analysis. Phosphate solubilising microorganisms are possible to use as bio fertilizer for all crops. Among the isolates some of are almost identical in biochemical test but they have different morphology characters.

Dr. Prem Jose Vazhacharickal is currently working as an assistant professor in the Department of Biotechnology, Mar Augusthinose College, Ramapuram, Kerala, India. He received the research training and academic guidance from Prof. Dr. Andreas Buerkert, University of Kassel, Germany.