Selective Enrichment Method for Isolation of Efficient Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria from Soil

ABSTRACT

Isolation and screening of phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) seems to become cumbersome using conventional methods, and there may be a chance to lose the more potent isolates during the screening methodology. To overcome these problems, a selective enrichment method has been developed to isolate and screen efficient PSB from diverse sources. Initially, this method includes enrichment of the phosphate solubilizers in the sample followed by selective isolation and screening. Looking into the physico-chemical data, it was revealed that the soil samples from cultivated soil were found to support growth and development of microbial life in general compared to soil samples from non-cultivated stringent environment, which was reflected in number of PSB isolated, or in some samples, PSB may not be obtained. Here, the selective enrichment method developed for isolation of PSB from stringent environmental samples yielded numerically higher number (14) of phosphate solubilizer isolates in comparison to conventional methods (4) from different soil sources. Moreover, isolates obtained following selective enrichment were found consistence for phosphate solubilization in different conditions and for different sources. In contrast to conventional isolation methodologies, the selective enrichment method consistently performed best for PSB isolation particularly from stringent habitats, i.e. mining region where conventional method/s did not perform well.

KEYWORDS:

• Phosphate solubilizing bacteria
• selective
• enrichment
• isolation
• method

Summary

Following the selective enrichment isolation methodology, very much efficient PSB cultures were obtained, which were missed out following the conventional isolation methodologies. This method consistently gave best performance for PSB isolation, especially from stringent habitats i.e. mining region where conventional method/s did not perform well.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Anand Agricultural University for providing research opportunity and infrastructural facilities. We would like to thank Prof. (Dr.) D. H. Patel for improving English language and making necessary grammatical corrections in the manuscript and Dr. Y. K. Jhala, for her valuable suggestions during the research work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval

This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

Consent to participate

All the authors involved in this study have participated willingly.

Consent for publication

All the authors involved in this study have their consent for this publication.

Availability of data and material

Data and material regarding this publication can be available, whenever required.

Authors’ contributions

PHK collected samples, analysed them, and worked on method development, and VRV and SHN provided technical guidance throughout the study and guided for manuscript preparation.

Additional information

Funding

The authors are thankful to the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, for providing financial support.