Beneficial effect of microbial bioformulations on nutrient availability, microbial biomass carbon and key enzymatic activities in citrus orchard soil

Three different microbial bioformulations namely Biogreen-5, Bioveer and Biosona were arranged in seven different treatments including T1 : Biogreen (soil + foliar application); T2 : Biogreen (foliar application); T3 : Bioveer (soil + foliar application); T4 : Bioveer (foliar application); T5 : Biosona (soil + foliar application); T6 : Biosona (foliar application); T7 : Control (water spray).

Biogreen when applied as soil and foliar application increased the soil pH by 6.18%, organic carbon by 27.27%, and cationic exchange capacity by 6.24% over control. Like-wise, Biogreen applied both as soil and foliar application increased the availability of N, P, K, Mn, Zn, Fe and B content by 20.17%, 22.19%, 31.74%, 52.81%, 40.76%, 33.60% and 51.47%, respectively over control. Furthermore, the application of Biogreen (soil + foliar application), demonstrated noteworthy enhanced in microbial biomass carbon, and key enzyme activities including dehydrogenase, phosphomonoesterase, and fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis, with significant improvements up to 39.58%, 23.39%, 30.21%, and 36.15%, respectively as compared to control.