Potassium as an Important Plant Nutrient in Sustainable Agriculture: A State of the Art

  • Durgesh Kumar Jaiswal
  • Jay Prakash Verma
  • Satya Prakash
  • Vijay Singh Meena
  • Ram Swaroop Meena
Chapter
First Online:

Abstract

The current scenario of potassium (K) depletion in soil is slowly increasing due to K fixation or the unavailable form of K in soil. Presently, farmers are faced with a problem of higher price of K fertilizer or other fertilizers in market so farmers are unable to fulfill the demand of potassium in soil for plant growth. Potassium deficiency affects the nutritional quality, mechanical stability, and also pathogen resistance of crops. Therefore, that times needs to fallow the sustainable technology for sustainable agricultural production through use of microbial consortia of potassium-solubilizing microbes or biofertilizer/PGPR under organic farming system. The potassium-solubilizing microorganism is one of the best sustainable technologies, which solubilizes the fixed form of K available for plant uptake. Thus, the bio-formula of the potassium-solubilizing microorganism as biofertilizer offers environmentally sustainable approach and also fulfills the requirement of potassium for crop production.

Keywords

Potassium Potassium-solubilizing microorganisms (KSMs) Microbial diversity Sustainable agriculture 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Arnold PW (1958) Potassium uptake by cation-exchange resins from soils and minerals. Nature 182:1594–1595CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Barker WW, Welch SA, Chu S, Banfield JF (1998) Experimental observations of the effects of bacteria on aluminosilicate weathering. Am Mineral 83:1551–1563CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Bertsch PM, Thomas GW (1985) Potassium status of temperate region soils. In: Munson RD (ed) Potassium in agriculture. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, pp 1:131–162Google Scholar
  4. Burford EP, Fomina M, Gadd GM (2003) Fungal involvement in bioweathering and biotransformation of rocks and minerals. Mineral Mag 67(6):1127–1155CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Carraretto L, Formentin E, Teardo E, Checchetto V, Tomizioli M, Morosinotto T, Szabó I (2013) A thylakoid-located two-pore K+ channel controls photosynthetic light utilization in plants. Science 342(6154):114–118CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. Clarkson DT, Hanson JB (1980) The mineral nutrition of higher plants. Annu Rev Plant Physiol 31(1):239–298CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Conyers ES, McLean EO (1969) Plant uptake and chemical extractions for evaluating potassium release characteristics of soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 33(2):226–230CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. FAI (2007) Fertiliser statistics 2006–2007. The Fertilizer Association of India, New DelhiGoogle Scholar
  9. Fenchel T (2005) Cosmopolitan microbes and their cryptic’ species. Aquat Microb Ecol 41(1):49–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Gadd GM (1999) Fungal production of citric and oxalic acid: importance in metal speciation, physiology and biogeochemical processes. Adv Microb Physiol 41:47–92CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  11. Groudev SN (1987) Use of heterotrophic microorganisms in mineral biotechnology. Acta Biotechnol 7(4):299–306CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Haby VA, Russelle MP, Skogley EO (1990) Testing soil for potassium, calcium, and magnesium. In: Westerman RL (ed) Soil testing and plant analysis, 3rd edn, SSSA book series 3. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, America, pp 181–228Google Scholar
  13. Heinen W (1960) Silicon metabolism in microorganisms. Arch Microbiol 37:199–210Google Scholar
  14. Huertas R, Rubio L, Cagnac O, García‐Sánchez MJ, Alché JDD, Venema K, Rodríguez‐Rosales MP (2013) The K+/H+ antiporter LeNHX2 increases salt tolerance by improving K+ homeostasis in transgenic tomato. Plant Cell Environ 36(12):2135–2149CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  15. Khawilkar SA, Ramteke JR (1993) Response of applied K in cereals in Maharashtra. Agriculture 11:84–96Google Scholar
  16. Kumar A, Bahadur I, Maurya BR, Raghuwanshi R, Meena VS, Singh DK, Dixit J (2015) Does a plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria enhance agricultural sustainability? J Pure Appl Microbiol 9(1):715–724Google Scholar
  17. Lian B, Wang B, Pan M, Liu C, Teng HH (2008) Microbial release of potassium from K-bearing minerals by thermophilic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 72(1):87–98CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Lin QM, Rao ZH, Sun YX, Yao J, Xing LJ (2002) Identification of a silicate-dissolving bacterium and its effect on tomato. Sci Agric Sin 35:59–62Google Scholar
  19. Liu W, Xu X, Wu X, Yang Q, Luo Y, Christie P (2006) Decomposition of silicate minerals by Bacillus mucilaginosus in liquid culture. Environ Geochem Health 28(1–2):133–140CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  20. Lopes-Assad ML, Avansini SH, Rosa MM, De Carvalho JR, Ceccato-Antonini SR (2010) The solubilization of potassium-bearing rock powder by Aspergillus niger in small-scale batch fermentations. Can J Microbiol 56(7):598–605CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  21. Lugtenberg BJJ, Dekkers L, Bloemberg CV (2001) Molecular determinants of rhizosphere colonization by Pseudomonas. Annu Rev Phytopathol 39:461–490CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  22. Malavolta E (1985) Potassium status of tropical and subtropical region soils. In: R.E. Munson (ed.) Potassium in Agriculture. American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Sci Soc Am, Madison, WI, pp. 163–200.Google Scholar
  23. Malinovskaya IM, Kosenko LV, Votselko SK, Podgorskii VS (1990) Role of Bacillus mucilaginosus polysaccharide in degradation of silicate minerals. Mikrobiologie 59:49–55Google Scholar
  24. Maurya BR, Meena VS, Meena OP (2014) Influence of Inceptisol and Alfisol’s potassium solubilizing bacteria (KSB) isolates on release of K from waste mica. Vegetos 27(1):181–187Google Scholar
  25. Meena OP, Maurya BR, Meena VS (2013) Influence of K- solubilizing bacteria on release of potassium from waste mica. Agric Sustain Dev 1(1):53–56Google Scholar
  26. Meena VS, Maurya BR, Bahadur I (2014a) Potassium solubilization by bacterial strain in waste mica. Bangladesh J Bot 43(2):235–237Google Scholar
  27. Meena VS, Maurya BR, Verma JP (2014b) Does a rhizospheric microorganism enhance K+ availability in agricultural soils? Microbiol Res 169:337–347CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  28. Meena RK, Singh RK, Singh NP, Meena SK, Meena VS (2015a) Isolation of low temperature surviving plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) from pea (Pisum sativum L.) and documentation of their plant growth promoting traits. Biocatal Agric Biotechnol. doi: 10.1016/j.bcab.2015.08.006 Google Scholar
  29. Meena VS, Maurya BR, Verma JP, Aeron A, Kumar A, Kim K, Bajpai VK (2015b) Potassium solubilizing rhizobacteria (KSR): isolation, identification, and K-release dynamics from waste mica. Ecol Eng 81:340–347CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Mengel K (1980) Effect of potassium on the assimilate conduction to storage tissue. Ber Deut Bot Gesch 93(1):353–362Google Scholar
  31. Parmar P, Sindhu SS (2013) Potassium solubilization by rhizosphere bacteria: influence of nutritional and environmental conditions. J Microbiol Res 3(1):25–31Google Scholar
  32. Pettigrew WT (2008) Potassium influences on yield and quality production for maize, wheat, soybean and cotton. Physiol Plant 133:670–681CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  33. Richards JE, Bates TE (1989) Studies on the potassium supplying capacities of southern Ontario soils. Measurement of available K. Can J Soil Sci 69:597–610CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  34. Ryan PR, Dessaux Y, Thomashow LS, Weller DM (2009) Rhizosphere engineering and management for sustainable agriculture. Plant Soil 321:363–383CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Schroeder D (1979) Structure and weathering of potassium containing minerals. Proc Congr Int Potash Inst 2:43–63Google Scholar
  36. Shabala S, Cuin TA (2008) Potassium transport and plant salt tolerance. Physiol Plant 133(4):651–669CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  37. Shanware AS, Kalkar SA, Trivedi MM (2014) Potassium solubilisers: occurrence, mechanism and their role as competent biofertilizers. Int J Curr Microbiol Appl Sci 3(9):622–629Google Scholar
  38. Sheng XF, He LY (2006) Solubilization of potassium-bearing minerals by a wild-type strain of Bacillus edaphicus and its mutants and increased potassium uptake by wheat. Can J Microbiol 52(1):66–72CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  39. Sheng XF, Huang WY (2002a) Mechanism of potassium release from feldspar affected by the strain NBT of silicate bacterium. Acta Pedol Sin 39:863–871Google Scholar
  40. Sheng XF, Huang WY (2002b) Study on the conditions of potassium release by strain NBT of silicate bacteria. Sci Agric Sin 35:673–677Google Scholar
  41. Sheng XF, He LY, Huang WY (2002) The conditions for releasing potassium by a silicate dissolving bacterial strain NBT. Agric Sci China 1:662–666Google Scholar
  42. Sheng XF, Zhao F, He LY, Qiu G, Chen L (2008) Isolation and characterization of silicate mineral-solubilizing Bacillus globisporus Q12 from the surfaces of weathered feldspar. Can J Microbiol 54(12):1064–1068CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  43. Sindhu SS, Parmar P, Phour M (2014). Nutrient cycling: potassium solubilization by microorganisms and improvement of crop growth. In: Geomicrobiology and biogeochemistry (p 175–198). Springer, Berlin.Google Scholar
  44. Singh NP, Singh RK, Meena VS, Meena RK (2015) Can we use maize (Zea mays) rhizobacteria as plant growth promoter? Vegetos 28(1):86–99Google Scholar
  45. Sparks DL (2000) Bioavailability of soil potassium, D-38-D-52. In: Sumner ME (ed) Handbook of soil science. CRC Press, Boca RatonGoogle Scholar
  46. Sparks DL, Huang PM (1985) Physical chemistry of soil potassium. Potassium Agric 16:238–249Google Scholar
  47. Sparks DL, Page AL, Helmke PA, Loeppert RH, Soltanpour PN, Tabatabai MA, Johnston CT, Summer ME (1996) Methods of soil analysis. Part 3: Chemical methods, 3rd edn. Soil Science Society of America and American Society of Agronomy, Madison, pp 46–64Google Scholar
  48. Sugumaran P, Janarthanam B (2007) Solubilization of potassium containing minerals by bacteria and their effect on plant growth. World J Agric Sci 3(3):350–355Google Scholar
  49. Supanjani Han HS, Jung SJ, Lee KD (2006) Rock phosphate potassium and rock solubilizing bacteria as alternative sustainable fertilizers. Agron Sustain Dev 26:233–240CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  50. Torsvik V, Sørheim R, Goksøyr J (1996) Total bacterial diversity in soil and sediment communities—a review. J Ind Microbiol 17(3–4):170–178CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  51. Ullman WJ, Welch SA (2002) Organic ligands and feldspar dissolution. Geochem Soc 7:3–35Google Scholar
  52. Vessey JK (2003) Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria as biofertilizers. Plant Soil 255(2):571–586CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  53. Wang Y, Wu WH (2015) Genetic approaches for improvement of the crop potassium acquisition and utilization efficiency. Curr Opin Plant Biol 25:46–52CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  54. Welch SA, Barker WW, Banfield JF (1999) Microbial extracellular polysaccharides and plagioclase dissolution. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 63:1405–1419CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  55. Xie JC (1998) Present situation and prospects for the world’s fertilizer use. Plant Nutr Fertil Sci 4:321–330Google Scholar
  56. Yakhontova LK, Andreev PI, Ivanova MY, Nesterovich LG (1987) Bacterial decomposition of smectite minerals. Dokl Akad Nauk USSR 296:203–206Google Scholar
  57. Zhang C, Kong F (2014) Isolation and identification of potassium-solubilizing bacteria from tobacco rhizospheric soil and their effect on tobacco plants. Appl Soil Ecol 82:18–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  58. Zörb C, Senbayram M, Peiter E (2014) Potassium in agriculture–status and perspectives. J Plant Physiol 171(9):656–669CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer India 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Durgesh Kumar Jaiswal
    • 1
  • Jay Prakash Verma
    • 1
  • Satya Prakash
    • 2
  • Vijay Singh Meena
    • 3
  • Ram Swaroop Meena
    • 4
  1. 1.Institute of Environment and Sustainable DevelopmentBanaras Hindu UniversityVaranasiIndia
  2. 2.Geological Survey of IndiaLucknowIndia
  3. 3.Crop Production DivisionVivekananda Institute of Hill Agriculture, (ICAR)AlmoraIndia
  4. 4.Department of Agronomy, Institute of Agricultural SciencesBanaras Hindu UniversityVaranasiIndia

Personalised recommendations