Comparative microbial analysis of maize rhizospheric soil under conventional and zero tillage

Abstract

The tillage practises has profound influence of the physical and chemical properties of the soil which in turn influence the soil microbial population. In this study the effect of conventional tillage and zero tillage practices on the microbial population in the maize rhizospheric soils were determined. The results revealed that zero tillage enhanced the microbial population as compared to the conventional tillage. Significant differences were observed in the microbial population with higher growth being recorded in the zero tillage soils (7.1 x 108 colonies/g of soil) as compared to normal tillage soils (4.73 x 108 colonies/g of soil). Moreover, the bacterial population (8.8 x 108 colonies/g of soil) was found higher as compared to that of the fungal population (2.39 x 108 colonies/g of soil) in soil. Among the biofertilizer organisms, the Bacillus spp. population was found higher as compared to Pseudomonas spp. and Azotobacter spp. These results indicate that tillage practices have a significant influence on the soil microbial community.