International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—Three phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) were isolated from contaminated soil and putatively identified as Bacillus sp., Azotobacter sp. and Pseudomonas sp. The maximum amount of P solubilized (3.11 mg/ml) was recorded for Bacillus sp. which also recorded the highest phosphate solubilization index (2.72). Bacterial isolates produced a substantial amount of IAA both in the absence and presence of heavy metals concentrations. A greenhouse pot experiment was conducted to study the effect of isolated (PSB) on the uptake of heavy metals by corn grown on a contaminated soil. The results showed that inoculation of corn plants with PSB isolates caused significantly (p = 0.05) decreases in the uptake of heavy metals by corn plants. The percent decreases in heavy metals uptake induced by Bacillus sp. were 69 %, 70.5 %, 80.7 % and 62.9 % for Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd respectively, compared with control. These results suggested that the PSB inoculant due to its intrinsic abilities of growth promotion and increase the solubility of P in soil could be exploited for phytostabilization of heavy metals contaminated site.

Index Terms—Phytostabilization, phosphate solubilizing bacteria, Bacillus sp., inoculation, heavy metals.

Hashem Mahmoud Mohamedis with the Department of Soils and Water, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Assiut, Assiut, Egypt (e-mail: hashembefoul@yahoo.com).
Yaser Ayesh Almaroai is with the Department of Biology, College of Science, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah 673, Saudi Arabia (e-mail: Yaseragr2007@yahoo.com).

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Cite: Hashem Mahmoud Mohamed and Yaser Ayesh Almaroai, "Effect of Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria on the Uptake of Heavy Metals by Corn Plants in a Long-Term Sewage Wastewater Treated Soil," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 366-371, 2017.