Efficiency of biofertilizers in increasing the production potential of cereals and pulses: A review

The agricultural scenario is changing rapidly. The pressure on the land is increasing day by day in order to feed a huge population. Agriculture systems are demanding new technologies that open the way towards sustainability in production and to our soil system. The use of biofertilizers is of utmost importance in agriculture because they not only increase the yield of various crops by improving their nutrient uptake, but they also helps in sustainable management of soil by having their role in nutrient transformation, increase in organic matter content, maintenance of pH due to release of various organic acids and so on. Chemical fertilizers directly increase the soil fertility by adding nutrients into the soil, whereas biofertilizers are helpful in nutrient uptake as their main function in soil is to either fix a nutrient on soil surface that is subjected to greater loss, or to solubilize a nutrient that is not available to plants because of fixation on the soil surface. They also serve as cost effective technology as they reduce the amount of inorganic fertilizers to be applied for crop production.