Biofertilizer- Types and Uses
Biofertilizer is a substance which contains living microorganisms which, when applied to seeds, plant surfaces, or soil and promotes growth by increasing the supply or availability of primary nutrients to the host plant.
- Biofertilizers add nutrients through the natural processes of nitrogen fixation, solubilizing phosphorus, and stimulating plant growth through the synthesis of growth-promoting substances.
Image Source: Agri Farming
Table of Contents
Types of biofertilizers
- Nitrogen-fixing biofertilizers
- Phosphorus fixing biofertilizers
Benefits of Biofertilizers
- It helps in maintaining environmental health by reducing the level of pollution.
- Reduces human & animal hazards by reducing the level of residue in the product.
- Increases the agricultural products and makes it sustainable
- Ensures the optimum utilization of natural resources.
- Reduces the risk of crop failure.
- Improves the physical and chemical properties of soil
- Biofertilizers are cost-effective when compared to synthetic fertilizers
- Using biofertilizers can increase crop yield by 20 or 30 percent.
Uses of Biofertilizer
- Nitrogen-fixing biofertilizers
Cultivated crop determine what type of nitrogen biofertilizer should be used:
- Rhizobium for legume crops.
- Azotobacter/Azospirillum for non legume crops.
- Acetobacter for sugarcane only.
- Blue-Green Algae (BGA) and Azolla for low paddy land used to grow rice.
2. Phosphorus fixing biofertilizers
Phosphorus biofertilizers are not dependent on the crops cultivated on the soil:
- Phosphatika for all crops to be applied with
- Rhizobium
- Azotobacter
- Azospirillum and Acetobacter
Compost fixing biofertilizers
Biofertilizers can use to enrich your compost and the bacterial processes breaking down the compost waste
- Phosphotika and Azotobacter culture.
Drawbacks of Biofertilizers
- Slow-release
- Crop specific
- Strain-specific
- Soil specific—lose effectiveness if soil too dry or hot
- Lesser efficient than synthetic fertilizers
- Crops show less response to biofertilizers then chemical fertilizers
- Much lower nutrient density — requires large amounts to get enough for most crops.