Effect of K solubilizer on dry matter accumulation and uptake of nutrients by chickpea

Indian soils are rich in potassium status, but most of the potassium is unavailable to plant for their growth. Due to that, farmers are using chemical fertilizer in higher quantity. To reduce that dependency on chemical fertilizer, we conducted the experiment entitled “Effect of K solubilizer on dry matter accumulation and uptake of nutrients by chickpea.” In experiment potassium-solubilizing bacteria (KSB) isolate from the rhizosphere soil of various crop plants, screening the isolates, and evaluate their efficacy in solubilizing potassium from potassium-bearing minerals across three different soil K status viz low, medium, and high. Following this, a pot culture experiment was conducted to assess the impact of the most effective KSB isolate on dry matter accumulation and nutrient uptake in chickpea at 65 days after sowing (DAS) at department of soil science, Dr. PDKV, Akola. In the in vitro analysis of KSB isolates, the KSB-b released maximum amount of K from muscovite mica in Aleksandrov broth (22.21 mg L-1) followed by KSB-c (20.21 mg L-1). In the pot culture experiment, the combination of 100% recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) with the KSB isolate resulted in significantly greater dry matter accumulation compared to RDF alone in each soil type. The highest dry matter accumulation was recorded in treatment T6 (RDF + KSB) at 2.91 g plant⁻¹ in medium K status soil, which was comparable to treatment T9 (RDF + KSB) at 2.86 g plant⁻¹ in high K status soil. The study found that the application of 100% RDF combined with KSB significantly enhanced nutrient uptake in chickpea across all K status. The highest nutrient uptake was observed in treatment T9 (RDF + KSB) in high K status soil, with values of 4.59 mg plant⁻¹ for nitrogen (N), 1.32 mg plant⁻¹ for phosphorus (P), and 4.05 mg plant⁻¹ for potassium (K).