Abstract
Potassium (K) deficiency is becoming a major productivity constraint in semi-arid agriculture. It is an essential mineral nutrient
that has key role in various plant physiological and biochemical functions. Balanced nutrient application always tends to ensure
better plant growth and development. Therefore, in the present study, efficacy of different K fertilizers for mediating maize
plant growth and productivity in the presence and absence of KSB inoculant was assessed. A potassium solubilizing
rhizobacterial strain, Klebsiella oxytoca KSB-17, was used in a 5 × 2 factorial pot experiment involving maize plant. The
treatments comprised of control, waste mica (WM), K chemical fertilizer (KCF), WM-enriched compost (WMEC) and KCFenriched compost (KCFEC). Compared to control treatment, KCF fertilization increased all plant physiological parameters
both in presence and absence of KSB inoculation. From the results obtained, KCFEC followed by CF alone with KSB,
demonstrated the most pronounced effect with significant increase in plant height (50% ), shoot biomass (59%), root biomass
(73%), root length (92%), plant K uptake (154%), grain starch (16%), protein (31%), oil content (22%) as well as
photosynthetic rate (104%), transpiration rate (30%) and water use efficiency (54%) compared to control. Potassium
solubilizing bacteria (KSB) prompted down-regulation of plant antioxidant enzyme activities against all K fertilizer treatments.
Compared to control treatment, catalase (CAT) activity decreased significantly on application of KCF as well as with KCFEC
in the presence of KSB inoculation. Regardless of KSB inoculation, plant growth, physiological, antioxidant and K nutritional
traits showed slight improvement with either of WM fertilizers compared to control. Our findings concluded that K enriched
compost with efficient KSB inoculant can be used to enhance maize growth and productivity in semi-arid agroecosystems.
Asif Tanveer, Muhammad Imran, Sher Muhammad Shahzad, Muhammad Saleem Arif, Tahira Yasmeen, Basharat Ali. (2020) INOCULATION OF POTASSIUM SOLUBILIZING BACTERIA WITH DIFFERENT POTASSIUM FERTILIZATION SOURCES MEDIATES MAIZE GROWTH AND PRODUCTIVITY, Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, Volume 57, Issue 4.
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