Bio-remediation of saline and sodic soils through halophilic bacteria to enhance agricultural production

Abstract

Bio-remediation is one of the cheap and eco-friendly approaches for remediation of salt affected lands as the traditional physical and chemical techniques are becoming costly. The possibility of application of halophilic bacteria in saline/sodic soil recovery and the importance of microbial diversity in soil is important in order to realistically access their future application in the rehabilitation of degraded lands. The plant growth promoting halophilic bacteria helps in bio-remediation of salt affected soils and thereby improves the agricultural crop yields. Bio-inoculation of seeds of wheat with plant growth promoting halophilic bacteria resulted in increase of 18.1 and 24.2 per cent in grain and straw yield, respectively under sodic conditions. Also, soil pH of sodic soil reduced from 9.4 to 8.6 when consorita of halophilic bacteria was applied. Soil bio-chemical properties improved and there was increase of microbial biomass C upto 137 zg/g as compared to 82 zg/g in control.