Designing an Efficient Consortium for Improved Crop Productivity using Phosphate Stress Adapted Bacteria with Multiple Growth-Promoting Attributes

An efficient consortium NEER-PHOS was designed using high phosphate solubilizing microbes isolated from lab-scale bioreactor operated under phosphate (Pi) rich, limiting, and stress conditions to meet the current agronomy demands in an eco-friendly manner. Individual microbes were screened for higher phosphate solubilizing potential with additional growth-promoting abilities like nitrogen fixation, potassium solubilization, auxin, and HCN production. The best-selected multipotent microbes were used to design the consortium. The selected microbes T166, X225, X303, X308, X298, and PVN-1 were identified as <i>Proteus mirabilis</i>, <i>Pseudomonas</i> sp., <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i>, <i>Chryseobacterium</i> sp., and <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i>, respectively and results into more than 250 mg/L released PO₄³ in liquid medium. A total of 63 consortium combinations were assayed, and the best solubilizing combination, number 58 (557.8 mg/L-PO₄³⁻), was selected for the pot experiment. The performance of the designed consortium was studied on <i>Vigna radiata</i>, <i>Cicer arietinum</i>, and <i>Triticum aestivum</i>. The overall analyzed growth parameters suggest that the designed consortium enhances growth significantly (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05) and reduces fertilizers by 50–100% in <i>V. radiata</i> and <i>C. arietinum</i>. Hence, the designed consortium NEER-PHOS can reduce the chemical fertilizer application and simultaneously improve plant productivity.