BIOFERTILIZER POTENTIAL OF RESIDUAL BIOMASS

OF AKK [CALOTROPIS PROCERA (AIT.) AIT. F.)]

 

NAVEED AHMAD^1,2, FAROOQ ANWAR^3,4*, SOHAIL HAMEED², MUHAMMAD SHAHID⁵,

AND SHAUKAT ALI SHAHID⁶

 

¹Department of Chemistry, University of Agriculture Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan

²National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad, Pakistan

³Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy,

Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, AlKharj-11942, Saudi Arabia

⁴Department of Chemistry, University of Sargodha, Sargodha-40100, Pakistan.

⁵Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan

⁶Government Post Graduate College of Science, Faisalabad, Pakistan.

^*Corresponding author’s email: fqanwar@yahoo.com

 

Abstract

 

The biofertilizer potential of residual biomass, derived from two parts that is flowers and leaves of Akk,was investigated in terms of its applications as a substrate for phyto-beneficial bacterial growth and subsequent inorganic phosphate solubilizing agent. The residual biomass was obtained after the extraction of antioxidants from the leaves and flowers of Akk using different solvent systems. The treatment with residual biomass of Akk (RBA) significantly (p<0.05) enhanced the growth of Enterobacter sp. Fs-11 and Rhizobium sp. E-11 as compared to control (without residual biomass). Maximum microbial growth in terms of optical density (0.92-1.22) was observed for residual biomass sample extracted with aqueous acetone against the control (0.58-0.68). On the other hand, maximum phosphate solubilization (589.27-611.32 µg mL^-1) was recorded for aqueous ethanol extracted residual biomass while the minimum (246.31-382.15 µg mL^-1) for aqueous acetone extracted residual biomass against the control (576.65µg mL^-1). The present study revealed that the tested RBAcan be explored as an effective bio-inoculant to supplement synthetic inorganic phosphate fertilizers. However, some appropriate in-vitro assays should be conducted to optimize and standardize the quantity and mesh size of residual biomass prior to use in biofertilizer production as carrier material.

 

Key words: Calotropis procera, Biofertilizer, Phosphate solubilization, Residual biomass, Microbial growth.