ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1659278
This article is part of the Research TopicRhizophagy and other cross-talks in RhizobiocomplexView all 5 articles
Multi-potent Rhizobacteria Enhance Banana Growth and Reduce Chemical Fertilizer Input
Provisionally accepted
Jeberlin Prabina B1,2*
Kavitha C2
Hemant S. Maheshwari3
Kahkashan Perveen4
Faheema Khan4
JAYANTHI BARASARATHI5
Dananjeyan Balachandar2
Nazih Yacer Rebouh6- 1TNAU, Thoothukudi, India
- 2Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India
- 3ICAR - Indian Institute of Soybean Research, Indore, India
- 4King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 5INTI International University, Nilai, Malaysia
- 6Rossijskij universitet druzby narodov, Moscow, Russia
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The present investigation isolated efficient potassium-solubilizing bacteria (KSB) from the banana rhizosphere and, along with nitrogen and phosphorus-transforming strains from TNAU, evaluated their impact on banana growth, yield, and fertilizer reduction. Solid and liquid-based formulations using the nitrogen-fixing bacterium Azospirillum brasilense Sp7 (A.b Sp7), phosphorus-solubilizing bacterium Bacillus megaterium Pb1 (B.m Pb1), and the newly isolated potassium-solubilizing bacteria Agrobacterium pusense (A.p. KRBKKM1) and Bacillus paralicheniformis (B.p KRBKKM2) were prepared and used for inoculation in the field experiment. HPLC profiling of KSBs showed that A.p. KRBKKM1 produced propionic acid, and B.p KRBKKM2 produced butyric and propionic acids. Among the two formulations tested, the liquid formulation had a significantly greater influence on the yield and yield-attributing traits than the solid-based ones. Treatments consisted of 75% NPK chemical fertilizer + 2ml A.b Sp7 + 2ml B.m Pb1, along with 1ml A.p. KRBKKMI and 1ml B.p KRBKKM2 (T10- 30.65 t ha-1), and 75% NPK + 2ml A.b Sp7 + 2ml B.m Pb1, along with 2ml A.p. KRBKKMI and 2 ml B.p KRBKKM2 (T11- 30.82 t ha-1) significant impacted the banana yield parameters. Principal component analysis revealed that treatments T10 and T11 positively correlated with yield-related parameters. Pearson correlation analysis revealed that crop yield was positively correlated with the bunch weight (r = 1.00***), fruit weight (r = 0.84**), and number of fingers per bunch (r = 0.76**), in both the solid and liquid formulations. In conclusion, the present investigation demonstrated a 25% reduction in chemical inputs when using NPK biofertilizers.
Keywords: Banana, Potassium solubilizing bacteria (KSB), Potassium, savings of chemical fertilizers, Solid and liquid formulations
Received: 03 Jul 2025; Accepted: 20 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 B, C, Maheshwari, Perveen, Khan, BARASARATHI, Balachandar and Rebouh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jeberlin Prabina B, TNAU, Thoothukudi, India
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