Isolation and Screening of Potassium and Phosphate Solubilising Bacteria in Stressed Soils of different regions of Madhya Pradesh for Production of Biofertilizers

Microorganisms play a vital role in the environment for the biotransformation, bio-geochemical cycling and metal and mineral transformation. Microbial mineral solubilisation is an important process as it helps in the transformation of insoluble form of minerals to the soluble forms and therefore can be used as potent biofertilizers. Phosphorus and potassium are two of the most important minerals needed by plants for their proper growth and development but most of it is found in the bound form in soil and thus cannot be utilized by the plants leading to deficiencies. The main objective of this work was to isolate and screen out such PSBs and KSBs from different industrial areas in Madhya Pradesh on the basis of their solubilisation potential. Six different strains were isolated from different regions of Madhya Pradesh which included Richai, Kamore, Maneri Singrouli, Suhagpur and Amarkantak. Their morphological and biochemical characterizations were done and the K-ratio (Khandeparkar's ratio) i.e, the solubilisation index was calculated to check the zone activity. The isolates from Richai gave the best results.