A preliminary study on phosphate Solubilizing bacteria (PSB) from tea garden soil of Assam

Phosphorus is a major component of plants and soil. Plants can absorb phosphorus as phosphate anion. A large number of microorganisms are present in the soil are known to solubilize and make the insoluble phosphorus in the available form to the plants. Bacterial colonies from tea garden soil were isolated on Pikovskaya’s (PKV) agar medium, containing insoluble tri-calcium phosphate (TCP) as calcium source. The colonies showing clear halo zones around the bacterial growth were considered as phosphate solubilizers. Gram positive cocci bacterial colonies were identified which shows oxidase negative in their biochemical reactions. The pH of the medium was dropped because P-solubilizing activity of these strains. This finding reveals the availability of PSB in the tea garden soil which is acidic in nature. It may throw light in the PSBs prospect of application as biofertilizer in low fertile land of tea growing areas of Assam, where internationally valued organic tea are produced.