College of Forestry and Hill Agriculture, Hill Campus, Ranichauri, Tehri Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh, 249199.
Phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) were isolated from sixty soil samples of various land capability classes of Himalayan region of Uttar Pradesh by enrichment culture technique. The best strains of each land classes were compared for their P-solubilization and acid tolerance in laboratory. A strain (PAS-2) of Bacillus sp. isolated from an acid soil (pH 4.8) of pasture and waste land had highest P-solubilizingcapacity and highest acid tolerance. Seed inoculation ot this bacterial strain helped in significant increase in biological yield, nodule number, dry nodule weight, available nitrogen and phosphate in soil as compared with uninoculated control.
Phosphate solubilizing bacteria, FYM, acid tolerance, phosphate use efficiency, Mussoorie rock phosphate
