Research Journal of Agriculture and Biological Sciences, 2(1): 5-11, 2006
2006, INSInet Publication
Corresponding Author: M.A. Badr, Plant Nutrition Department, National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt. 5 The Dissolution of K and P-bearing Minerals by Silicate Dissolving Bacteria and Their Effect on Sorghum Growth M.A. Badr, A.M. Shafei and S.H. Sharaf El-Deen Plant Nutrition Department, Soils and Water use Department and Microbial Genetics Department, National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt. Abstract: Potassium and phosphorus are vital components of plant nutrition package limiting crop yield and quality. In particular, the crop production in Egypt relies quietly on the world potash fertilizers. It thus becomes urgent to exploit the indigenous mineral resources to alleviate the importation of fertilizers. Therefore, dissolution of feldspar (orthoclase) and rock phosphate by silicate dissolving bacteria was monitored in pure culture and soil pot experiments to determine the effect of these bacteria on releasing K and P as well as their effect on plant growth. Six strains of bacteria capable of dissolving silicate minerals were isolated from feldspar samples. The release of K and P from feldspar and rock phosphate was substantially enhanced in pure culture inoculated with bacterial strains. The different strains however, had obvious abilities to release K and P from the minerals. The strain SBS had a higher capacity to release K and P from the minerals than others did. The released K by this strain (490 mg/l) increased by 21-112 % while the released of P (758 mg /l) increased by 25-75 % compared with that by any of the five strains. The release of K from the feldspar was obviously affected by pH and aerobic condition. The strain SBS had a much higher potential to release K in the pH 6.5-8.0 than other pHs. More aerobic condition produced more K and P than a less aerobic one. Soil pot experiments with sorghum plants indicated that the silicate dissolving bacteria could grow in the tested soils and have a potential of minerals dissolution. The mean effect of silicate bacteria on feldspar dissolution was appreciable greater under the tested soils (62 % of total K) rather than under bacterial culture (53 % of total K). Bacterial inoculation combined with K and P bearing minerals gave 48, 65 and 58 % increase in dry matter yield of sorghum plants in clay, sandy and calcareous soil respectively compared to non-inoculated soils. The uptake of K by sorghum plants also increased by 71, 110 and 116 % while the uptake of P increased by 41, 93 and 79 % in the same soils respectively. Residual soil fertility estimated by K and P concentration after harvest also underwent an increase through inoculation of silicate dissolving bacteria especially with mineral additions in the tested soils. key words: dissolution, feldspar, rock phosphate, bacillus, sorghum INTRODUCTION Although some of these organisms are free-living (plank Most of the Egyptian desert soils are poor or mineral surfaces , where they can impact water-rock marginal in nutrient status and require adequate interaction, mineral surface chemistry, dissolution and fertilization to sustain high productivity. However, due to precipitation of minerals, the evolution of ground water economic consideration, the cost of applying imported or geochemistry and soil formation . The interaction locally produced water-soluble fertilizers is becoming between microbes and mineral substrate can involve the more expensive. Thus, the use of alternative indigenous oxidation or reduction of mineral constituents from which resources such as feldspar (orthoclase) and rock the organism derives energy for growth and phosphate are gaining importance to alleviate the reproduction . However, other types of interaction are dependence of imported or costly commercial fertilizers. also possible and these may have impact on the diagnosis Several laboratory studies have shown that microbes of wider range of mineral including abundant classes of can increase the dissolution rate of silicate and aluminum silicate and aluminum-silicate minerals . silicate minerals in laboratory patches experiments, Microbes can enhance mineral dissolution rate by primarily by generating organic and inorganic acids . producing and excreting metabolic by-products that [1] tonic) in solution, most of these bacteria are attached to [2,3] [4-9] [10-12] [13,14] Res. J. Agr. & Bio. Sci., 2(1): 5-11, 2006 6 interact with the mineral surface. Complete microbial deionized water to remove any remaining culture medium respiration and degradation of particulate and dissolved and added in concentration of (10 CFU/ml) to modified organic carbon can elevate carbonic acid concentration at Bromfield liquid meduim (1954): (NaH PO - 0.5 g; mineral surfaces, in soils and in ground water , which MgSO . 7H O - 0.5 g; (NH4) SO - 1.0; NaCl - 0.2; [4,15] can lead to an increase in the rates of mineral weathering molasses - 5.0 g; 1000 ml distilled water; pH 7.5). by a proton-promoted dissolution mechanism. In addition to carbonic acid, microbes can produce and excrete Pure culture experiments: Two parallel dissolution organic ligands by a variety of processes such as experiments were performed under laboratory conditions fermentation and degradation of organic macromolecules, in 500 ml-Erlenmeyer flasks containing 10 g of either or as a response to nutrient stress . feldspar or rock phosphate in 200 ml of modified Bromfield [13,16-20] It is well known that many organic compounds medium inoculated with either active or deead cells of produced by microorganisms, such as acetate, citrate and silicate bacteria (NaH PO was not added to the culture in oxalate can increase mineral dissolution rate . Carboxylic the rock phosphate experiment). The medium pH was [21] acid groups which shown to promote dissolution of adjusted to 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, 7.5, 8.0, and 8.5 with diluted HCl or silicates are also common in extracellular organic materials. NaOH solutions in the case of feldspar experiment or to Moreover, some microorganisms in soil environment 7.5 in the case of rock phosphate to avoid any effect of contain enzymes that function in ways analogous to pH medium on rock phosphate dissolution. A control chitinase and celluloses, i.e. they specifically break down without inoculation was also made. mineral structure and extract elements required for All cultures were sterilized at 80C with shaking to metabolism or structure purposes (e.g., mineralizes) . This stop the microbial metabolism after 30 days incubation. [1] may be especially important for ions such as Fe and Al , The cultures were further treated with 6% H O and 3+ 3+ which are expected to be rather insoluble. filtered to separate mineral powder residues from the cells. Some recent reports showed that silicate dissolving The filtered culture solutions were digested on a hot plate bacteria could activate soil P, K, Si reserves and promote with 30 % H O until all organic matter was oxidized. The plant growth . Styriakova et al , reported that the concentrations of K and P in the digested solutions were [22,23] [24] activity of silicate dissolving bacteria played a determined with the flame and spectrophotometer, pronounced role in the release of Si, Fe and K from respectively. feldspar and Fe oxyhydroxides. At present, little information about the K and P releasing condition by the Cultivation experiment: A pot culture experiment was silicate bacteria are available. The aim in this study was to conducted in clay, sandy and calcareous soil. The basic investigate K and P releasing condition by silicate properties of the soils are presented in (Table 2). Five Kg bacteria and their effects on plant growth. of each soil was transferred into plastic pots. Prior to planting, the minerals of feldspar and rock phosphate MATERIAL AND METHODS were added to the soils at 0 and 10 g each per pot. A Mineral perpetration: Feldspar (orthoclase) was obtained to all treatments at the rate of 1.5 g per pot in two equal from three locations represent the sediments of potash splits. The treatments were replicated four times in a feldspar in Eastern Desert of Egypt between Ras Benas complete randomized block design. and Quseir. Rock phosphate was obtained from New The seeds of sorghum plants sterilized with 6% H O Valley Project. All samples were ground and sieved and and dipped in distilled water for two days at 30 C and the 250-m-size fraction was collected for these then air-dried. The tested bacterium SBS was identified as experiments. The mineral powders were rinsed with a strain of (Bacillus cereus). The seeds were soaked in distilled water to remove the fine particles. The element either fermented liquid containing SBS strain or distilled contents of the minerals are presented in (Table 1). water for control. It was measured that there were about Bacteria and media: Six strains of silicate dissolving seeds were planted with 5 plants per pot after thinning. bacteria were isolated from diffrents feldspar samples Soil moisture was maintained at field capacity throughout according to the dillution-plate methods. Prior to the course of the experiment. The plants were cut after experimental use, these strains were initially grown in 30 days incubation and the dry matter of each treatment Nutrient broth No. 2 at 28 C for 2 days and then was recorded. Sorghum dry matter samples were digested harvested by centrofugation at 4000 rpm. The cultures with triacid mixture and the concentration of K and P of were then resusbended and rinsed several times with the above-ground parts were determined using standard 10 [25] 2 4 4 2 2 4 2 4 2 2 2 2 constant dose of nitrogen in the form of urea was applied 2 2 (2x10 CFU) SBS strain per seed of sorghum. The treated 4 0 100 200 300 400 500 SBS S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 Bacterial strains K i n s o l u t i o n ( m g / l ) Living cells Dead cells Control 0 200 400 600 800 SBS S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 Bacreial strains P i n s o l u t i o n ( m g / l ) Living cells Dead cells Control Res. J. Agr. & Bio. Sci., 2(1): 5-11, 2006 7 Table 1: Chemical analysis of the minerals (%). Minerals K O P O SiO Fe O Na O CaO Al O SO 2 2 5 2 2 3 2 2 3 4 Orthocalse 11.25 0.12 65.23 0.16 3.68 0.26 18.72 0.41 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rock phosphate 0.33 30.0 8.5 4.2 1.0 45.0 0.5 4.3 Table 2: Some basic properties of soils used in the experiment. Soil EC pH CaCO Avail.N Avail. P Avail. K 3 dS/m % mg/kg soil mg/kg soil mg/kg soil Clay 0.35 7.6 2.7 35 14 115 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sandy 0.78 8.2 1.5 12 9 68 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Calcareous 1.24 8.5 28.3 17 5 47 methods . Post harvest soil samples were collected and [26] analyzed for K and P. The bacterial number in the rhizosphere soil was determined by the dilution plate method. Microbial K-releasing power from applied feldspar was estimated in the post harvest soils and calculated as: K-released (mg/pot) = (K-uptake + K- residual under treatment) (K-uptake + K-residual under corresponding treatment without feldspar addition). RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Releasing capacity in pure culture: The releases of K and P from feldspar and rock phosphate were used as an overall indicator of mineral dissolution during these Fig. 1: The relaese of K by different strains of silicate experiments (Fig. 1&2). Six strains of silicate dissolving dissolving bacteria. bacteria were obtained from the samples of feldspar. Higher K and P concentration was observed in the culture inoculated with bacterial strains compared to controls due to lower resistance of the tested minerals to activity of silicate bacteria. However, the different strains showed various abilities on dissolution minerals and their effect were more pronounced with rock phosphate. The SBS strain had a higher capacity to release K (53 % of total K) and P (58 % of total P) from the minerals than others did. The release of K by the SBS strain (490 mg /l) increased by 21-112 % compared with that by any of the five strains, while the release of P (758 mg /l) increased by 25-75 %. All dead cells also released a significant amount of K and P from the minerals. Fig. 2: The release of P by different strarins of silicate Previous studies however, confirmed that these dissolivig bacteria. bacterial strains produced several organic acids such as acetic, butyric, byruvic and formic acid which can which decreased solution pH to about 3.5. The dead specifically break down mineral structure and extract cells also had a small but significant enhancement of elements required for metabolism or structure purpose . dissolution rates, as microbial cell surfaces contain [1,24] The organic acids produced by microbial colonization sites that can complex with metal ions released from on the mineral surfaces greatly accelerated the release of mineral cultures . mineral elements to solution from feldspar sample . In [27] the present dissolution experiments with silicate Effect of pH on K releasing from feldspar: Acidity dissolving bacteria, K and P released to solution were of culture significantly influenced the bacterial greatly increased due to the production of organic acids, activity (SBS strain) in releasing K from feldspar (Fig. 3). [28,8] 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 pH6.0 pH6.5 pH7.0 pH7.5 pH8.0 pH8.5 K i n s o l u t i o n ( m g / l ) Living cells Dead cells 0 100 200 300 400 500 500 ml 400 ml 300 ml 200 ml Culture volume (ml) K i n s o l u t i o n ( m g / l ) Living cells Dead cells Res. J. Agr. & Bio. Sci., 2(1): 5-11, 2006 8 Fig. 3: The release of K by SBS strain under different pHs. Fig. 4: The release of K by SBS strain under various volumes in 1000 ml flask. This strain could dissolve much more K under the pH from 6.5-8.0 while the maximum release was obtained at neutral pH. In this respect, Vandeviver et al , reported [29] that several strain of bacteria enhanced dissolution at neutral pH in a buffered glucose media by producing organic ligends, primarily gluconate. The releasing by the dead cells was not significantly affected by the culture acidity. Effect of culture volume: The SBS bacterium was a facultative microorganism. It can survive in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. However, the releasing capacity of the isolate was different under these conditions (Fig. 4). A small culture volume, i.e. a more aerobic condition, had a much higher K releasing capacity than a large culture volume. The K releasing by the dead cells was not significantly affected by the culture volumes. Response of sorghum plants: The dry matter of sorghum plants inoculated with silicate dissolving bacteria (SBS strain) and supplied with minerals (feldspar and rock phosphate) increased by 48, 65 and 58 % for clay, sandy and calcareous soil respectively compared to the plants supplied with minerals alone (Table 3). Furthermore, the dry weight of sorghum inoculated with bacteria alone increased by 34, 28 and 26 % respectively compared to non-inoculated treatment. Potassium and phosphorus uptake improved markedly in both cases with inoculation of bacteria in the tested soils compared to corresponding controls. However, these bacteria were found to develop in the rhizosphere of the sorghum plants. The release of dissolved K and P-bearing minerals indicates that the silicate dissolving bacteria could grow under the soil conditions and have a potential of mineral dissolution. After 30 days inoculation, the cells in rhizosphere of sorghum plants treated with minerals increased to 38.6 x 10 , 30.5 x 10 and 26.8 x 10 for clay, sandy and calcareous 4 4 4 soil respectively. In comparison to non-inoculated treatments, the release of K and P from the added minerals was substantially enhanced with bacterial treatments. Soil available K increased to 135 (clay), 82 (sandy) and 73 (calcareous) mg/kg soil respectively. Soil available P also increased to 37 (clay), 32 (sandy) and 12 (calcareous) mg/kg soil respectively. The release of K was about 129, 242 and 306 % much higher than that of non-inoculated treatment while the release of P was 106, 146 and 71 % in the clay, sandy and calcareous soil respectively. On the other hand, inoculation of silicate dissolving bacteria without mineral additions appreciably activates the initial K and P content in all soils. The available K content in the rhizosphere soil of sorghum was 69, 43 and 50 % much higher than that of non- inoculated treatments for clay, sandy and calcareous soil respectively, while the available P content increased by about 56, 67 and 33 % in the same soil respectively. The most possible reason was that the inoculation of silicate dissolving bacteria accelerated the transformation of non- available forms of K and P into an available one. Microbial K-releasing power was appreciably raised in the tested soils upon bacterial inoculation (Table 4). The mean value of released K from the feldspar reached to (62 % of total K) in the soil culture experiments compared to (53 % of total K) in bacterial culture experiment. This discrepancy can be attributed to the limited extent of microbial attachment to mineral surfaces, the limited contact time between microbes and minerals, or to the accelerated mineral dissolution rates found under soil conditions. Similar result has been reported by . [27] Res. J. Agr. & Bio. Sci., 2(1): 5-11, 2006 9 Table 3: Effect of silicate dissolving bacteria (SBS strain) on sorghum growth and nutrient availability in different soils. Treatments D.W. K-uptake P-uptake Avail. K Avail. P No. of cells mg/pot mg/pot mg/kg mg/kg x10 /g 4 Clay soil --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minerals A 26.2 878 96 135 37 38.6 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minerals B 17.7 513 68 59 18 4.3 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No minerals A 20.6 562 75 76 25 31.2 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No minerals B 15.4 327 58 45 16 2.5 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sandy soil --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minerals A 21.8 740 73 82 32 30.5 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minerals B 13.2 383 36 24 13 0.8 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No minerals A 14.7 422 43 30 15 22.3 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No minerals B 11.5 283 12 21 9 0.5 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Calcareous soil --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minerals A 19.8 657 61 73 12 26.8 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minerals B 12.5 304 34 18 7 0.6 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No minerals A 12.8 345 25 27 8 20.1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No minerals B 10.2 232 24 18 6 0.3 A: Inoculated with bacteria; B: non- inoculated. LSD at 5% 3.24, 2.47 and 2.15 for clay, sandy and calcareous soil respectively. Table 4: The release of potassium from feldspar added to different soils inoculated by silicate dissolving bacteria. Soil Feldspar Initial Uptake Residual Released mg/pot mg/pot mg/pot mg/pot Clay + 575 878 675 611(65%) - 575 562 380 - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sandy + 340 740 410 578(62%) - 340 422 150 - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Calcareous + 235 657 365 542(58%) - 235 345 135 - - Figures in parenthesis indicate percent of total K. - Feldspar containing 9.34 % total K applied at the rate of 10 g per pot. In soils and aquifers, most bacteria are attached to ubiquitous in the soil, plays an important role in surfaces , therefore any dissolution enhancing destruction of K and P-bearing minerals as well as in [2,3] metabolites (protons, ligands, oxidants) that are produced the cycle and transformation of rocks. Mounting are most concentrated at or near the mineral surfaces evidence, however, suggested that bacteria attached where dissolution occurs. In laboratory experiments, the to feldspar surfaces could greatly accelerate the rate of bacteria are primarily in suspension and any metabolites feldspar desolation to gain access to trace or limiting produced by the bacteria are diluted by the bulk solution. nutrients for metabolic process, primarily by the Under soil conditions, the length of contact time between production of organic ligands. The result of these the minerals, microbe and solution is also much greater ligands excretion is the accelerated weathering of than which can be maintain in the laboratory with bacterial feldspar . The activity of these bacteria was culture. However, silicate dissolving bacteria greatly restricted to soil condition, K containing minerals, pH accelerated the release of mineral elements to soil solution and incubation temperature. Potassium concentration from feldspar and rock phosphate. in the soil also influenced the dissolving process. The dissolution of these minerals by silicate bacteria Sheng, et al reported that silicate bacteria had the under soil condition suggested that this bacteria specie, maximum efficiency of releasing potassium in the K [30,27] [23] Res. J. Agr. & Bio. Sci., 2(1): 5-11, 2006 10 concentration 26.5-57.8 mg/kg. In addition, other factors reductive dissolution of minerals. 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