Frateuria
aurantia : the K (potassium) mobilizer
Dr.
Sagar Maitra
Associate Professor,
Centurion University of Technology and Management,
M S Swaminathan School of
Agriculture, Paralakhemundi-761 211, Odisha, India
The
most important factor for limiting crop yield in developing nations worldwide,
and especially amongst resource-poor farmers, is soil infertility. Therefore,
maintaining soil quality can reduce the problems of land degradation, depletion
of soil fertility and stagnation or declining trend in production levels that
needs the basic principles of Good Agriculture Practice (GAP). Mineral matters,
organic materials and microorganisms are three major solid components of the
soil. They affect the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil
as well as the processes of terrestrial systems. Unless the fertility is
restored, farmers will harvest little benefit from the use of improved
varieties or hybrids, high value nutrients, expensive irrigation and more
productive cultural practices. Soil health can be restored effectively through
adopting the concept of Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) which
ensures Integrated Plant Nutrient Supply and Management (INSAM) as well as natural
resource conservation and thus making soil a biological laboratory. In this
process, the biofertilizers can play an important role as an integral part of
nutrient management. They are cost effective, eco-friendly and renewable source
of plant nutrients to supplement chemical fertilizers in sustainable
agricultural system and thus they establish a sound soil-plant-atmospheric-continuum.
The
term ‘biofertilizer’ or ‘microbial inoculants’ can be generally defined as a
preparation containing live or latent cells of efficient strains of
microorganisms used for application of seed, planting material, soil or
composting areas with the objective of increasing the numbers of such
microorganisms and accelerate certain microbial process to augment the extent
of the availability of nutrients in a form which can be assimilated by plant.
The regular biofertilizers like Rhizobium, Azospirillum, Azotobacter, Acetobacter and Phosphate
solubilizing/mobilizing microbes are to meet nitrogen and phosphorus nutrition
in plants. But microbes responsible for potassium (K) mobilization has been
isolated and developed which is having the ability to mobilize that part of
potassium which remain unavailable to plants. It is Frateuria aurantia which is named after the Belgian
microbiologist Joseph Frateur. Frateuria
aurantia was isolated from the plant Lilium
auratum and from the fruit of the raspberry (Rubus parvifolius). The earliest description of this bacterium has
been done by Kondo and Ameyama in 1958. Potassium is very essential for plant growth and productivity and is
usually found abundant in soil. Of this total K content 98% remains
bound in the mineral form whereas 2% is in soil solution and exchangeable
phases. This bacterium, Frateuria
aurentia can play a pivotal role in mobilizing bound potassium into
available form to plants. It works well in all types of soil especially,
which are low in potassium content. It is commercially available in India in
liquid as well as in powder (2 × 107 cfu/g) form.
Besides,
Frateuria aurentia produces plant growth promoting substances which offers plant multifaceted
benefits in terms of growth, by mobilizing potash and making it available to
crops. It also enhances the efficiency of chemical fertilizer. It is estimated
that 50 to 60% of chemical potash fertilizers usage can be reduced by
application of Frateuria aurentia in
soil. This potash mobilizing biofertilizer can be applied in combination with
other bio-inoculants as seed and seedling inoculation and in soil. In all crops including cereals, vegetables, plantation
crops and ornamental plants, this biofertilizer can be applied. Progressive
farmers of our country are well acquainted with nitrogen fixing and phosphorus
solubulizing / mobilizing strains of micro-organisms, however the addition of Frateuria aurentia will be undoubtedly
boost for substituting primary nutrients from chemical source and help the
farmers in achieving agricultural sustainability.
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