Metal and drought tolerant biochar based biofertilizer for enhanced growth of Raphanus sativus

Abstract

Majority of applied agrochemicals remain persistent in soil for long time, causing deleterious effect on soil and its micro-flora, resulting in unproductive use of agricultural lands further causes land scarcity for future use. Application of biochar (BC) and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) plays a vital role in improved growth of crops. The present study involves preparation of biofertilizer using BC derived from hardwood forest tree of birch as carrier material. For this purpose, plant growth promoting, metal and drought tolerant bacterial strains were selected as test inoculants. The efficacy of these inoculated carriers was observed on the seedling growth of Raphanus sativus. The isolated bacterial inoculums showed indole-3-acetic acid and siderophore production, phosphate solubilization, and 1-aminocyclopropane- 1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase activity, which help in plant growth promotion. Application of 2.5% of BC along with Bacillus sp. 16a significantly increased the rate of seed germination, root and shoot length, and fresh biomass of roots and shoots of R. sativus plant. Results suggest both BC and PGPR could together produce much higher biomass than the single amendment. © 2021 Author(s).