Abstract
Phosphorus (P) is a critical nutrient used to maximize plant growth and yield. Current agriculture management practices commonly experience low plant P use efficiency due to natural chemical sorption and transformations when P fertilizer is applied to soils. A perplexing challenge facing agriculture production is finding sustainable solutions to deliver P more efficiently to plants. Using prescribed applications of specific soil microbial assemblages to mobilize soil bound-P to improve crop nutrient uptake and productivity has rarely been employed. We investigated whether inoculation of soils with a bacterial consortium developed to mobilize soil P, named Mammoth P(TM), could increase plant productivity. In turf, herbs, and fruits, the combination of conventional inorganic fertilizer combined with Mammoth P(TM) increased productivity up to twofold compared to the fertilizer treatments without the Mammoth P(TM) inoculant. Jalapeño plants were found to bloom more rapidly when treated with either Mammoth P. In wheat trials, we found that Mammoth P(TM) by itself was able to deliver yields equivalent to those achieved with conventional inorganic fertilizer applications and improved productivity more than another biostimulant product. Results from this study indicate the substantial potential of Mammoth P(TM) to enhance plant growth and crop productivity.