I think so, it helps increase microbial population thereby helping better mineralization of native bounded nutrients(e.g., PSBs), besides others directly helping with developing associationships with plants roots (AMf, Rhizobia and PGPRs)

Yes the very purpose application of applucation of biofertilizers is to improve upon soil fertility . And many times, the response in soil fertility through biofertilizers is prity slow ....

Yes, definitely. You can check one of our article "Effect of rice (Oryza sativa) straw management on growth and yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum) (2008). Indian Journal of Agronomy 53(2):112-115

Exactly Biofertilizer is need of the hour as Mycorrhizal associations and nitrogen fixing bacteria can enhance soil fertility as compared to synthetic fertilisers which are very costly and applied every year but Biofertilizer once applied it increases by spore formation and no need of second time.

Biofertilizers can initially bring about soil nutrient deficiency to an already established plants by consuming the available nutrients for their biological activities. Eventually, the biofertilizers can enhance the nutrition quality of the soil after they decay in the soil following the microorganisms' aging, death, putrefication in the soil.

Thank you very much @ Pradeep Kumar

Thank you for your nice information @ Anoop Kumar Srivastava

Thank you very much @ Debasish Borah.

Thank you @ Zahid Fazal.

Thank you so much @ Alisheikh Atta.

Yes, application of bio-fertilizer increases soil fertility.

Can someone through some more light on role of microbes in improving plant available K in soil..??

Yes, application of bio-fertilizer increases soil fertility but with appropriate doses to ovoid overdoses.

The use of bio fertilizers has the advantage to favour the formation of humus and the bacterial activity in the soil. The microflora activity in the soil is essential for the degradation of organic material into nutrients for the plants, thus increasing the yield whereas an excessive and unilateral use of synthetic fertilizers can in part destroy this useful microflora.

Yes it will.

Yes, it will be absolutely.

Look at attached file

No......Biofertilizer alone can not increase soil fertility. The application of plant and animal waste/biomass along with biofertilizer may possibly enhance soil fertility.

Soil fertility is the inherent capacity of the soil to supply nutrients to plants in adequate amount, proper proportion and at right time. Application of biofertilizers (suppose N-fix. bacterial) to poor fertile soil slowly increases nutrient level (Nitrogen) up to optimum. Thereafter they remain almost uneffective.

So, I think application of biofertilizers improves fertility of low fertile soils.

Yes, of course, soil fertility can be increased by the application of bio-fertilizers rather than chemical supplements like straight fertilizers. But, one should apply bio-fertilizers in judicious manner, otherwise, the cost of production may be problematic for marginal farmers.

Thank you.

Thank you @ Cafer Turkmen

Thank you @ Ramachandran Muthukumrasamy.

Thank you @ Sunil Sangwan.

Thank you @ Kinjal Mondal.

Absolutely. enormous empirical research work has proven that biofertilizers greatly improves soil fertility as observed by increases in soil biodiversity and plant yields.

Thank you @ Barbara Sawicka.

Thank you @ Erasmus N. Tang.

Yes, the application of bio-fertilizers i.e. compost, biogas residues, livestock wastes can also increase the soil fertility by increasing the microbial counts, their activity and microbes-mediated soil processes (decomposition and mineralization). However, up to 60% of the applied N in these sources can be available for plant uptake during the year of application thus the amount need to be applied and residual N contributions must be take into account to archive the required objective.

Agree with Barbara Sawicka

Yes, definitely the application of biofertilizers increases soil fertility in a natural way. By making the essential nutrients available to soil in a slower manner and also by increasing water holding capacity of soil thereby improving overall soil health.

Biofertilizers to be really effective in field, we need perfect protocol of isolation , charcaterization and evaluation of effective microbes , however shelf life is a major constrant , apart from competitiveness of effectve microbes with crop rhizosphere.....

Yes, the application of biofertilizer can increase soil fertility.

Please have a look at the link below:

Article Biofertilizer for crop production and soil fertility

Bio-Fertilizers are by definition preparations which contain living microorganisms like Rhizobiumn, Azotobacter, Azospirillum , etc. They may be able to accelerate the transformation of organic compounds (humification) of vegetal or animal origin applied to the soil. Unfortunately, there is so far only little or inconsisting evidence about their real effect on soil properties. A major problem of many preparations is shelf life. There is no guarantee that the microorganisms claimed in the composition are still alive. A serious question is their survival in the soil. Another problem is the recommended rate per ha which often is too low to induce any significant beneficial effects on soil properties, particularly on soil organic matter. Bio-Fertilizers may be a supplement to organic and mineral fertilizers, but never a replacement.

Absolutely, the application of bio fertilizer can increase soil fertility. Not only increased soil fertility, by using bio fertilizers to the soil sustainable increase of soil fertility will be occurred which prevails good health of soils concerning environmental friendly.

Thank you @ Ghulam Mustafa Shah.

Thank you @Neeraj Pandey.

Thank you @Sonika Kumari.

Thank you @Anoop Kumar Srivastava.

Thank you @ Harasit Kumar Paul.

Thank you for your informative article @Harasit Kumar Paul.

Thank you @Alvin Alexander.

Thank you @Md. Abul Kalam Azad.

Yes biofertilisers which contain strains of beneficial microorganisms like rhizobium azotobactor azospirillum etc etc improve fertility status of the soil via the process of nutrient recycling nutrient release and nutrient transformation in the soil so as to provide available form of the ionic nutrient form in adequate amount and suitable proportions for plant uptake resulting in improved crop growth and development in question

Exactly, frequent application of synthetic or chemical fertilizers redound the soil fertility and it will also cause acidity of soil. Biofertilizer application is one way of helping and or treating the soil and restore back its fertility and with the presence of living microorganisms help a lot due to its pedoturbation process. Besides, biofertilizer is an ecofriendly way of conserving our environment that would not give an adverse effect to all living organisms especially human being.

Nice discussion going on . Why do we observe only few dominant microbial genera dominating the entire microbial research and surprisingly , these are few mcrobial species for commercial formulations have been so successful . Is this the only plant or soil microbiome diversity or only these few microbes transcribe the functionality of entire mcirobiome. Would be happy to get some meaningful responses from our learned colleagues....

Thank you @ Himanshu Verma.

Thank you @ Amelia Jugadora.

Thank you for your nice discussion @ Anoop Kumar Srivastava.

Yes, Biofertilizer are used as an alternative to chemical fertilizer to increase soil fertility and crop production in sustainable farming.Bio-fertilizer also act as a soil conditioner adding organic matter to the soil while increasing the water retention capacity of the soil. Biofertilizers can stimulate beneficial microbes in the rhizosphere that can promote plant growth and their adaptability in soil. Biofertilizers such as PGPR has immense metabolic abilities owing to play important roles

in soil ecosystem functions and processes.

Can anyone of us share his published work about how much chemical fertilizers saving could be achieved with biofertilizers , regardless of crops or soil types .....

Respected Dr. Anoop Kumar sir, the following work will reveal the N fertilizer mitigation to some extent. Full paper available on my research gate page

Improved Yield of Micropropagated Sugarcane Following Inoculation by Endophytic Burkholderia vietnamiensisArticleFull-text available

• February 2006
• Plant and Soil
• 📷Munusamy Govindarajan
• 📷Jacques Balandreau
• 📷Ramachandran Muthukumrasamy
• [...]
• 📷Cuntheepuram Lakshminarasimhan

Diazotrophic associations in sugar cane cultivation in South IndiaArticleFull-text available

• July 1999
• Tropical Agriculture
• 📷Ramachandran Muthukumrasamy
• 📷G. Revathi
• 📷Cuntheepuram Lakshminarasimhan

1) Muthukumarasamy, R. Revathy, G. and Vadivelu, M(1994). Biofertilizer – A supplement or substitute for chemical nitrogen for sugarcane crop. Coop. Sugar.25:287-290 (ISSN 0971-877X)ArticleFull-text available

• November 1994
• 📷Ramachandran Muthukumrasamy

some time microorhamism agent, I don't think it is fertilizer ecause it did provide any nutrient for plant and soil, could improve soil fertility, some time it could not. it is determined by whether the agent applied could be prevailing one in soil or it adapt the soil conditions.

Thank you @ Umar Daraz.

Thank you @ Anoop Kumar Srivastava.

Thank you @ Ramachandran Muthukumrasamy .

Thank you @ Linquan Wang.

Thank you Dr Ramachandran. ....nice publications , i will go through them...

Yes I think so, but we should apply them with moderation and we need to know where and when to put each biofertilizer because for each type of soil there is a specefic biofertilizer.

Thank you @ Anoop Kumar Srivastava.

Thank you @ Kerrouche Ibrahim.

Yes it does.

Yes, it is! Actually, soil is a 'tremendous biological laboratory' (NC Brady) and inoculation will facilitate enhancement of microbial population and greater ecosystem services (ultimately). But we should not expect much from microbial inoculants unless congenial environment for their flourish is created.

Thank you @ Emmanuel Vijayanand Murray .

Thank you @ Sagar Maitra.

Best used one for Biofertilizer in agricultural land then physico chemical and micro and macro nutrients balance maintenance of agricultural land. Normal fertilizer chemical balance not maintenance for the agricultural land

Thank you @ Harish Kumar Gupta.

Thank you @ Kalaivanan .K.

Through the experiments that I conducted in this field, yes, the use of biofertilizers increases the availability of the nutrients for absorption by the plant as well as providing the soil with other nutrients through organic compound decomposition, or as atmospheric nitrogen fixation.

Thank you @ Ali Alhayany.

Yes, the application of Biofertilizers can increase soil fertility because these Biofertilizers are live-micro-organism that has the ability to make mineralization of nutrients which leads plants to easily absorb them. Also, these micro-organisms can be fixing Nitrogen from Air, Solubilizing Phosphorous in the soil & mobilizing Potassium for plants which increase the soil fertility.

Biofertilizers got tremendous role in sustaining soil fertility. Biofertilizers played a huge role in the past when sustenance of the soils mainly controlled by soil microorganisms and Biofertilizers. Till date and in coming days, Biofertilizers going to play tremendous role for sustaining soil fertility.

Yes.I think that biofrtilizers increase nutrient availability in the rootzone through organic materials decomposition by microorganisms and through phosphorus dissolving bacteria for example and so on.

Thank you for your nice discussion @ Ala Eldin Merghani Abdin.

Thank you @ Bikas S Mahapatra.

Thank you for @ Ali Alhayany.

There is absolutely no doubt about the utility of bifertilizers in soil fertility improvements and their consequential effects on almost every soil property plus crop repsonse . An experiment recomemnded a biofertilizer using certain microbial strain and when the same recommendation is replicated elsewhere , it fails and fails utterly , for the simple reason , those biofertilizers containing those specific microbial strains are not used or not available , sometimes researchers are also unaware of those things , its a combination of all these . This is the biggest problem with crop response of biofertilizers showing inconsistency over space and time. I , therefore , invite your suggestions to oevrcome such discrepancies in corp response. Thank you

Yes Dr Srivastava. The species we are applying as biofertilizers are soil-plant-climate specific. The micro organisms got their own requirements. The non successful impact of biofertilizers mainly due to unscientific mode of application. Much more scientific approaches are required for biofertilizers to be of practical utility. Had we been keeping a track on the use of organics and biofertilizers vis-a-vis cultivation of HYV's, the problem sustainability would have been solved to a great extent.

Even today, we need to work on these approaches to counter sustainability under changing climatic scenario.

Yes, of course the application of bio fertilizer can increase the soil fertility, however, the composition of such fertilizer should be accurate and Compatible.

Of course yes...use of bio fertilizer increases the soil fertility when compared to use of chemical fertilizers ..These bio fertilizers also enhances soil structure and texture along with the microbeial activity in degradation and decomposition for release of nutrients...As we know that now a days whole thing's are dependent on chemicals which are non eco-friendly and harmful to all living things including soil fertility in long run...Even though the biofertilizers give result at slower rate initially it is very much essential in future days ...

Yes! Biofertilizers "feed" the soil microbial community thus, enhancing the biodiversity of the soil microflora. Their use and role in soil fertility will be maximized when farmers employ agronomic practices that foster an increase of soil organic matter (SOM). Therefore, the management of crop residues together with crop rotations, green manuring, cover cropping, compost applications will/should amplify the effects of biofertilizers use and ultimately, improve the fertility of soils.

Yes, Bio-fertilisers can increase soil fertility there is no doubt in that.But they are not as fast as chemical fertilizers in terms of nutrient supply and it also differ from chemical fertilisers in terms of amount of nutrient they supply. But in contrast to chemical fertilisers it improves physical health of the soils along with enriching soils with beneficial microorganisms..

What about compatibility 9f biofertilizers with chrmical fertilizers...

Do you feel, these microbes act nutrient sink in favor chemical fertilizers....called effective microbes..

RESPECTED Anoop Kumar Srivastava SIR,

SOME OF OUR STUDIES REVEAL RELATIONS BETWEEN INORGANIC N AND NITRGENASE ACTIVITIES. iN OR LAB, WE ARE MASS PRODUCING G. DIAZOTROPHICUS AROUND 300 TONS EVERY YEAR AND SUPPLYING TO THE CANE GROWERS OF TAMILNADU. WE ARE ADVICE THE FARMERS TO APPLY THIS MICROBE ALONG WITH UREA (50% FROM THE RECOMMENDED DOSAGE) AS THIS MICROBE POSSESSING THE NITROGENASE ENZYME WHICH IS NOT AFFECTED UPTO 40mM OF NITRATE

Thank you @ Anoop Kumar Srivastava.

Thank you for nice discussion @ Bikas S Mahapatra.

Thank you @ M. D.H. Prodhan.

Thank you @ Harshavardan Hilli.

Dear Dr Ramachandran, thank you for update. The colleagues following this discussion must address this important issue , how microbes act as nutrient sink for chemical fertilizers blanketing the impact of chemicals. This is in sharp contrast to our conventional notion that chemical fertilizers reduce the soil microbial load....nice discussion..

Thank you @ Bruno Borsari.

Thank you @ Lakshay Goyal.

Thank you @ Anoop Kumar Srivastava.

Thank you @ Ramachandran Muthukumrasamy.

Thank you for your nice discussion @ Anoop Kumar Srivastava.

Its effectiveness has been proven, as it is environmentally friendly and beneficial in the agricultural field. Food can be provided to plants, which leads to a reduction in reliance on chemical fertilizers in this field.

It depends...If biofertilizers are applied in soils adequately fertilized with mineral or chemical fertilizers, these do not exert any positive effect on soil fertility. However, when applied alone in low fertility soils, these do show a positive effect on soil fertility.

Yes

Yes

See attached file please.