How can bio-fertilizers help in plant growth?

 In current days, strategies of soil management primarily depend on inorganic chemical fertilizers that can cause threats to the environment as well as human health. The exploitation of some beneficial microbes in the form of bio-fertilizers has now become an important aspect in agriculture as they play vital roles in sustainable production of crops and food safety. The eco-friendly approaches of bio fertilizer products can lead to improved uptake of nutrients, plant tolerance and plant growth. This blog emphasizes how bio-fertilizers can help in plant growth. 

Phosphorous: Mineralisation and solubilisation

One of the important plant nutrients that indirectly or directly affect every biological process is Phosphorus. For example, Phosphorus plays an important role in every metabolic process, such as signal transduction, energy transfer, respiration and molecule biosynthesis. A small amount of Phosphorus is available in soil, in both organic and inorganic forms.

However, as they remain in insoluble or occluded forms and for this reason, plants can’t intake them. In this regard, soil microbes can convert insoluble phosphorus in soil into specific forms that plants can uptake through different mineralisation and solubilisation mechanisms.

Nitrogen: fixation

Nitrogen is an essential element of amino acids, chlorophyll, ATP, nucleic acids and others. However, plants cannot intake this component, unless and until it becomes available through the process of BNF or Biological N2-fixation. This procedure is an energy-intensive technique through which enzyme nitrogenase can convert atmospheric N2 to NH3 (Ammonia). It is available for assimilation by microbes and plants. Nitrogenases are available in small groups of microorganisms, named diazotrophs. They include archea, free-living bacteria, and symbiotic bacteria. In agriculture, one of the most effective symbiotic N2-fixing organisms is rhizobia.

Sulfur: Oxidation

Among bio fertilizer products, this is an important nutrient, effective for plant growth and it implicates in the conformation of specific biomolecules, for example glutathione, proteins, coenzymes, vitamins, chloroplast membrane lipids.  Mostly, Sulfur is available in organic forms,whereas inorganic forms are less commonly found. Sulfur-oxidizing bacteria use  S0 in the form of an energy source and it releases plant-available sulfate. For this reason, their inoculation procedure works together with S0 fertilizers. These fertilizers speed up the conversion to sulfates and it can lead to high crop yields. Hence, sulfur-oxidizing biofertilizers can be recommended for horticultural crops (such as garlic, ginger and cauliflower) and grain crops (such as oats and oilseed species). In soil, sulfur oxidation can be continued by different bacteria and archaea, such as Bacillus,  Xanthobacter, Thiobacillus, Streptomyces. Besides, some fungi also help in sulfur oxidation, such as Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Fusarium.

Potassium: Solubilization 

This is an important macronutrient that takes part in functioning, cell constitution, protein synthesis and other primary functions of metabolism. However, around 98% of Potassium in soil can be found in non-exchangeable forms. In this regard, microorganisms increase availability of Potassium through solubilization. 

Final thoughts

Bio-fertilizer products play vital roles in plant growth. Though they have long-term effects and great potential, these products face major limitations in agricultural settings. If you want to buy these products for ensuring plant growth, you can choose Impellobio. 

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