Understanding Biofertilizers, its Types and Applications in India

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• What are Bio fertilizer?
• Types of Biofertilizers
• Nitrogen Fixing Biofertilizers
• Phosphorus Solubilizers
• Phosphorus Mobilizers
• Advantages of Biofertilizers
• Application of Biofertilizers to Crops
• Seed Treatment
• Seedling Root Dip
• Soil Treatment
• Government Efforts to Popularize Use of Biofertilizers

Introduction

Indian agriculture faces various environmental concerns, the primary one being declining soil fertility. The need is to promote sustainable agricultural practices, such as organic farming and biofertilizers.

Though we have known the importance of cover crops like legumes in enhancing soil fertility since ancient times, and their role in fixing nitrogen biologically was discovered a century ago. The commercial exploitation of biofertilizers started with the launch of ‘Nitragin’ – laboratory culture of Rhizobia – in 1895.

In the Indian context, the commercial production of biofertilizers, such as Rhizobium, began in 1956. Today, it has emerged as a promising agricultural technology to balance the shortcomings of chemical fertilisers.

What are Bio fertilizers?

The Bio fertilizers are ready-to-use live formulations of beneficial microorganisms that, on application to seed, roots, or soil, mobilise nutrients through their biological activity and help build the microflora and, in turn, soil health.

Biofertilizers are preparations containing living cells of beneficial soil microorganisms that help improve soil fertility and increase crop yield. They are also known as microbial inoculants. Some biofertilizer names are Rhizobium, Azotobacter, and Blue-Green Algae.

Now, the question arises: how do biofertilizers enrich soil fertility? Biofertilizers, when applied through seed or soil, interact with the rhizosphere to enhance nutrient uptake by plants, thereby increasing soil fertility.

Types of Biofertilizers

The different types of biofertilizers can be classified based on the functions microorganisms perform. Thus, we have given below the classification of biofertilizers.

Nitrogen Fixing Biofertilizers (NFB)

Nitrogen-fixing biofertilizers are bacteria that help fix nitrogen in the soil. They fix nitrogen by associating themselves with the root nodules of the leguminous plants. See the table below to know the example of a biofertilizer of Nitrogen:

Phosphorus Solubilizers

This category of biofertilizers includes microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi. They help plants' roots absorb phosphorus. Check out the table below to know the examples of it:

Phosphorus Mobilizers

These biofertilizers help transport phosphorus to the cortical cells of a plant's roots. The examples of it are:

• AM fungi
• Ectomycorrhizal fungi
• Orchid mycorrhiza
• Ericoid Mycorrhiza

Advantages of Biofertilizers

The importance of biofertilizers ranges from improving soil quality to protecting plants from disease. Thus, some of the advantages are:

• They cost less and are eco-friendly.
• They are an important supplement to chemical fertilizers.
• They enrich the soil with essential nutrients, improving the soil quality over time.
• They help release growth-promoting hormones and improve root propagation.
• They help increase crop yield by 10-25%.
• They help replace 25% of the chemical nitrogen and phosphorus.
• Additionally, it reduces fertilizer costs, especially for nitrogen and phosphorus.

Application of Biofertilizers to Crops

The application of biofertilizers ranges from seed treatment and seedling root dip to soil treatment. Let us see each application in brief.

Seed treatment

• Prepare a slurry by mixing 200 grams of Phosphotika and 200 grams of nitrogenous biofertilizer in 300-400 ml of water.
• Uniformly apply the prepared inoculant on the seeds and let it dry for 30 minutes. Each prepared microbial inoculant is enough to treat 10 kg of seeds.
• Ensure that treated seeds are sown within 24 hours.

Seedling root dip

Seedling root dip is ideal for transplanted crops like rice. In this, 1 kg of inoculant is mixed with 40 litres for one hectare of land. The roots of the seedlings are dipped for 8-10 hours, then transplanted.

Soil treatment

To treat the soil, mix 4 kg each of the recommended biofertilizers with 200 kg of compost, then leave it overnight. The prepared mixture is incorporated into the soil at the time of planting crops.

Government efforts to Popularize Use of Biofertilizer

Biofertilizers are an important component of organic farming and Integrated Nutrient Management in India. They are less costly, eco-friendly and an important source of nutrients for plants. Thus, the government has been taking efforts to promote and popularize the use of biofertilizers in India. Some of the initiatives are:

• Fertilizer Control Order (FCO), 1985: To ensure quality, biofertilizers have been notified under the FCO.
• Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY): Under the Soil Component of the scheme, bio-fertilisers are promoted through provisions for financial assistance to strengthen infrastructure for production and quality control.
• Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY): Farmers are provided financial assistance of INR 31000 per hectare for 3 years through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for bio-fertilizer.
• Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North-Eastern Region (MOVCDNER): Financial assistance of INR 32, 500 per hectare is given for 3 years for bio-fertilizer.
• PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Nourishment and Amelioration of Mother Earth (PM-PRANAM): 50% of the fertilizer subsidy on NPK saved by a State/UT in a particular financial year will be passed on to that State/UT as a grant.
• Mission Life Programme: It encourages organic farming and natural farming using organic and biofertilizer to reduce emission of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) through the reduction of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
• National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP): Financial assistance is provided at a 50% subsidy, up to INR 300 per hectare, for various types of biofertilizers.
• National Food Security Mission (NFSM): A 50% subsidy on the cost, up to a maximum of INR 300 per hectare, is provided for the promotion of Bio-Fertilizer (Rhizobium/PSB).