Abstract
Phosphorus (P) is 2
nd most important macronutrient for the growth of plants. The soils
of Pakistan are alkaline and calcareous in nature which causes precipitation of P and
making it less available to the plants. To overcome this issue, excessive P fertilization
is used, some part of fertilizer is used by plants while remaining is either fixed as
unavailable form or lost due to runoff. So deficiency of P affects the plant growth while
runoff of excess fertilizer may result in eutrophication of our aquatic systems. Use of
arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) may be an appropriate method to enhance the P
uptake efficiency of plants and reduce the use of P fertilizers. Plant growth promoting
rhizobacteria (PGPR) are also well known for solubilization of P. Therefore, a pot
experiment was conducted in 2019 at Research Farm of Institute of Soil and
Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan to check the
efficiency of compost, PGPR and AMF to enhance availability of P in onion. The
impact of PGPR and AMF were evaluated separately and in combination. At harvest,
data regarding plant fresh and dry weight, onion bulb circumference, bulb fresh and dry
weight, chlorophyll a and b, carotenoids, and P concentration in plants were analyzed.
Results showed that combined inoculation of endomycorrhizae and rhizobacteria
improved plant fresh and dry weight, onion bulb circumference, bulb fresh and dry
weight, chlorophyll a and b, carotenoids. Overall, integrated application of
endomycorrhizae and rhizobacteria enhanced P uptake by 77% as compared to control
treatment.
Faiza Shahzad, Hafiz Naeem Asghar, Zain Mushtaq, Amina Hadayat, Naqshe Zuhra, Rizwan Ahmad, Muhammad Arif Ali. (2020) Role of endomycorrhizae, rhizobacteria and compost to improve phosphorus availability in onion, Asian Journal of Agriculture and Biology, Volume 8, Issue 2.
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