LAUSR

ABSTRACT Phosphorus availability from rock phosphate (RP) can be increased via composting with organic fertilizer and phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms (PSMs) in the soil. Incubation and pot experiments were conducted to investigate the comparative efficacy of RP-enriched organic fertilizer with PSMs vs. diammonium phosphate (DAP) as a control to enhance the production of legumes. In incubation studies, RP-enriched organic fertilizer with PSM2 significantly increased soil aggregate stability (37%) and P-release (2.35 folds) as compared to control, whereas, in pot study, the number and dry weight of nodules plant−1, shoot length, number of pods plant−1, and grain yield of chickpea increased by 23%, 13%, 17%, 15%, and 15% with RP-enriched organic fertilizer + PSM2 compared to control. Similarly, nitrogen and phosphorus contents in straw (11 and 42% respectively) and grains (11 and 13% respectively) and protein contents (16%) of chickpea were also increased. A similar trend was observed regarding the growth and yield parameters of lentil. The use of RP-enriched organic fertilizer with PSM could produce results similar to that of DAP for the optimum production of legumes.