Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during 2009–10 on sandy loam soil Alfisol at College Farm, College of Agriculture, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, A. P., India to study the response of phosphorus levels in combination with FYM @ 10 t/ha and phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) @ 2 kg/ha on the acid and alkaline phosphatase activity in the rhizosphere soil of chickpea at flowering. The acid and alkaline phosphatase activity decreased with increasing inorganic phosphorus levels and significantly lower activity of both the enzymes was observed in the treatment receiving 75 kg P2Os/ha alone. The highest alkaline phosphatase activity was 292.6 μg p-nitrophenol/g soil/h with 50 kg P2Os+PSB @ 2 kg/ha. Application of 75 kg P2Os/ha to chickpea resulted in a significantly lower acid phosphatase activity of 84.4 μg p-nitrophenol/g soil/h. Significantly higher removal of P by chickpea at flowering was 2.90 kg/ha when inorganic P at 50 kg P2Os/ha was applied in combination with FYM and PSB. The mean P uptake by seed also showed a significant influence of the integrated use of the organics and inorganics supplying P to chickpea.