Solubilization of phosphate
Phosphate solubilization by the selected EDB isolates was
tested using modified Pikovskaya’s agar plates (Chaiharn
and Lumyong 2009). The isolates were spotted on the agar
plates and incubated at 30 °C for 24 h. The presence of a clear
zone around a bacterial colony was interpreted as a positive.
Calculation of the phosphate solubilization index (SI) was
carried out following the previously described method
(Kumar and Narula 1999). These experiments were done in
five replicates.