Effect of Beneficial Microorganisms on Cowpea Productivity and Soil Health
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53555/nnpbs.v2i5.702Keywords:
Cowpea, Microbial inoculants, Mycorrhizal helper bacteria, Plant nutrient status, Rhizobium spAbstract
Soil microorganisms are the most abundant biota in soil, responsible for a number of abilities such as nutrient cycling and organic matter decomposition, maintenance of soil fertility and restoration and plant health and sustainability in ecosystem functioning. Beneficial microbial inoculants such as actinomycetes, diazotrophic bacteria, mycorrhizal helper bacteria (MHB), mycorrhizal fungi, rhizobia etc. are known to promote plant growth. Microorganisms are also antagonistic to plant pests, parasites or diseases. Many of the beneficial microbials are naturally present in soil, although in certain cases, it may be advised to increase their populations and activity either through direct inoculation or by applying agricultural management techniques. In cognizance with the above, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of microbial inoculants on overall productivity of cowpea and soil health. Results revealed that the application of Rhizobium sp. as seed treatment increased the productivity of cowpea (up to 15%) at various stages of plant growth parameters like plant dry weight, no. of fresh leaves and branches, pods, overall leaf moisture and root length as compared to control. Total microbial population numbers, available K and phosphorus (P) in soil were also increased significantly after the soil was treated with this microbial inoculant indicating the role of beneficial microbial in improving the plant nutrient status and soil health.
References
Adesemoye AO, Kloepper JW 2009a. Plant-microbes interactions in enhanced fertilizer use efficiency. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol, 85: 1–12. doi: 10.1007/s00253-009-2196-0.
Adesemoye AO, Torbert HA, Kloepper JW 2009b. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria allow reduced application rates of chemical fertilizers. Micro Ecol, 58: 921–929. doi: 10.1007/s00248-009-9531-y.
Bhardwaj D, Ansari MW, Sahoo RK, Tuteja N 2014. Biofertilizers function as key player in sustainable agriculture by improving soil fertility, plant tolerance and crop productivity. Microb Cell Fact, 13: 66. doi: 10.1186/1475-2859-13-66.
Bhattacharyya PN, Jha DK 2012. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR): emergence in agriculture. World J Microbiol Biotechnol, 28(4): 1327-1350.
Bonfante P, Iulia-Andra A 2009. Plants, mycorrhizal fungi, and bacteria: a network of interactions. Annu. Rev Microbiol, 63: 363–383.
Bouizgarne B. 2013. Bacteria for plant growth promotion and disease management. In: Bacteria in agrobiology, disease management, D K Maheshwari (Ed.), Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp. 15-34.
Bray RH, Kurtz LT 1945. Determination of total, organic and available forms of phosphorus in soils. Soil Sci., 59: 39-45.
Fatima Z, Zia M, Chaudhary MF 2007. Interactive effect of Rhizobium strains and P on soybean yield, nitrogen fixation and soil fertility. Pak J Bot, 39: 255-264.
Grossman JM, Schipanski ME, Sooksanguan T, Drinkwater LE 2011. Diversity of rhizobia nodulating soybean Glycine max (Vinton)] varies under organic and conventional management. Appl Soil Ecol, 50: 14–20.
Hussain N, Mujeeb F, Tahir M, Khan GD, Hassan NM, Bari A 2002. Effectiveness of Rhizobium under salinity stress. Asian J Plant Sci, 1: 12–14.
Jackson ML 1962. Soil Chemical Analysis. Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi.
Khaitov B, Kurbonov A, Abdiev A 2016. Effect of chickpea in association with Rhizobium to crop
productivity and soil fertility, Eurasian J Soil Sci, 5 (2): 105-112. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.18393/ejss.2016.2.105-112
Mfilinge A, Mtei K, Ndakidemi P 2014. Effect of Rhizobium inoculation and supplementation with phosphorus and potassium on growth and total leaf chlorophyll (chl) content of bush bean Phaseolus vulgaris L. Agricultural Sciences, 5: 1413-1426.
Nazir N, Mirza JH, Akhtar N, Bajwa R, Nasin G 2007. Some studies of thermophilic and thermotolerant fungi from Lahore, Pakistan. Mycopath, 5: 95-100.
Nehra K, Yadav SA, Sehrawat AR, Vashishat RK 2007. Characterization of heat resistant mutant strains of Rhizobium sp. [Cajanus] for growth, survival and symbiotic properties. Indian J Microbiol, 47: 329–335. doi: 10.1007/s12088-007-0060-4.
Nina K, Thomas WK, Prem SB 2014. Beneficial organisms for nutrient uptake. VFRC report 2014/1, virtual fertilizer research center. Washington, DC: Wageningen Academic Publishers, p. 63.
Patil PL, Medhane NS 1974. Seed inoculation studies in gram (Cicer arietinum) with different strains of Rhizobium sp. Plant Soil, 40: 221–223. doi: 10.1007/BF00011425.
Rad HN, Sayadi V, Rad AN 2014. Effect of Rhizobium bacteria (Rhizobium leguminosarum) and nanoiron application on yield and yield components of different pinto beans genotypes, Agricultural Communications, 2(2): 22-27.
Ramachandran VK,East AK, Karunakaran R, Downie, JA, Poole PS 2011. Adaptation of Rhizobium leguminosarum to pea, alfalfa and sugar beet rhizosphere investigated by comparative transcriptomics. Genome Biol, 12: 106–109. doi: 10.1186/gb-2011-12-3-106.
Rashid MH, Schafer H, Gonzalez J, Wink M 2012. Genetic diversity of rhizobia nodulating lentil (Lens culinaris) in Bangladesh. Syst Appl Microbiol, 35: 98–109. doi: 10.1016/j.syapm.2011.11.008.
Sahoo RK, Ansari MW, Dangar TK, Mohanty S, Tuteja N 2013. Phenotypic and molecular characterization of efficient nitrogen fixing Azotobacter strains of the rice fields. Protoplasma, doi:10.1007/s00709-013-0547-2.
Sharma AK, Bhattacharyya PN, Rajkhowa DJ, Jha DK 2015. Impact of global climate change on beneficial plant-microbe association. Annals of Biological Research, 5 (3): 36-37.
Sharma P, Sardana V, Kandola SS 2011. Response of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) to Rhizobium inoculation. Libyan Agric Res Centre J Int, 2: 101–104.
Singh B 2003. Improving the production and utilization of cowpea as food and fodder. Field Crops Research, 84: 169–150.
Singh JS, Pandey VC, Singh DP 2011. Efficient soil microorganisms: a new dimension for sustainable agriculture and environmental development. Agric Ecosyst Environ, 140: 339–353. doi: 10.1016/j.agee.2011.01.017.
Sinha RK, Valani D, Chauhan K, Agarwal S 2014. Embarking on a second green revolution for sustainable agriculture by vermiculture biotechnology using earthworms: reviving the dreams of Sir Charles Darwin. Int J Agric Health Saf, 1: 50–64.
Subbiah BV, Asija GL 1956. A rapid procedure for assessment of available nitrogen in soils. Curr Sci, 25:259-260.
Tagore GS, Namdeo SL, Sharma SK, Kumar N 2013. Effect of Rhizobium and phosphate solubilizing bacterial inoculants on symbiotic traits, nodule leghemoglobin, and yield of chickpea genotypes, International Journal of Agronomy, Article ID 581627, 8 pages.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/581627.
Tilak KVBRN, Ranganayaki KK, Pal R, De AK, Saxena C, Shekhar Nautiyal, Shilpi Mittal, Tripathi AK, Johri BN 2005. Diversity of plant growth and soil health supporting bacteria. Curr Sci, 89(1): 136-150.
Trabelsi D, Mhamdi R 2013. Microbial Inoculants and Their Impact on Soil Microbial Communities: A Review. Bio Med Research International, Article ID 863240, 11 pageshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/863240.
Ushamalini C, Rajappan K, Gangadharan K 1998. Seed borne mycoflora of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata [L.] Walp.) and their effect on seed germination under different storage conditions. Acta Phytopathologica et Entomologica Hungarica, 33: 285–290.
Waksman SA 1927. Principles of soil microbiology, William & Wilkins Co., Batimore.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notices:
You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation .
No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
