Role of Soil Microorganisms in Enhancing Nutrient Availability and Sustainable Agricultural Practices

Abstract

The Microorganisms in the soil are the basic principle of the nutrient cycle and help to enhance the soil fertility and sustain soil agricultural output. The present research examined how different practice management solutions on soil microbial activities affect nutrient availability, client microbial activity, and crop performance. They compared four treatments, including control, organic compost, biofertilizer made of microbes and combined use of compost and biofertilizer. The findings indicated that the combined treatment had a significant improvement in the soil nutrient availability wherein the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium available in the soil increased to 278 kg ha 1 -1, 29.7 kg ha 1 -1, and 316 kg ha 1 -1 respectively, as compared to 210 kg ha 1 -1, 18.5 kg ha 1 -1, and 245 kg ha 1 -1 in a control case. The numbers of soil microbial populations were also significantly greater in the combined treatment recording the bacterial counts of 34.8 ×10 6 CFU g -1 soil compared to untreated soil of 18.2 ×10 6 CFU g -1. Other enzyme activities were dehydrogenase and phosphatase which improved over the control by more than 80 percent, which indicated an improvement in the microbial metabolic activity. Both soil and crop response has been recorded as crop yield increased more; as much as 5.7 t ha -1 with microbial and organic amendments, which was 26 percent of the conventional practice. These results substantiate the idea that incorporating soil microorganisms together with organic inputs enhance the use of nutrients, soil quality, as well as plant output, and that it could be considered as a sustainable substitute to intensive application of chemical fertilisers.