A STUDY OF SOIL BACTERIA DISSOLVING CERTAIN MINERAL PHOSPHATE FERTILIZERS AND RELATED COMPOUNDS

SUMMARY: Over a hundred isolates which produced haloes around their colonies on dilution plates containing calcium carbonate or dicalcium phosphate have been obtained in pure culture from the root region of the oat plant. Of these, more than 50% were pleomorphic, and this group had the highest proportion of isolates which could produce clear zones on agar media containing either calcium carbonate, dicalcium phosphate, tricalcium phosphate, freshly precipitated hydroxyapatite or basic slag. None of the isolates showed dissolving ability on agar media containing gafsa rock phosphate, variscite, strengite or taranakite. However, when an analytical method was used, 82% of the isolates tested proved able to release phosphate from gafsa rock phosphate, though to a much lesser extent than from dicalcium phosphate. None of the isolates tested by this method released phosphate from variscite, strengite or taranakite.
The nature of the organic acids produced from glucose by 26 of the isolates was also investigated. The majority produced mainly lactic acid, but a few also gave an acid with chromatographic properties similar to those of 2-keto-gluconic acid.