| ABSTRACT: Cerrado soils are extremely old, highly weathered and depleted in essential nutrients, especially P. For this reason, the addition of P fertilizers is mandatory in order to obtain economical yields of annual crops. Soil microorganisms play a key role in the P cycle. The P immobilized in the soil microbial biomass acts as reservoir of this element. Soil microorganisms also produce enzymes that act in the P mineralization, participate in the solubilization of inorganic phosphorus and are able to form symbiosis with plants, denominated mycorrizha, enhancing the uptake of this element. In this review we discuss the results of several studies evaluating the use of soil microorganisms to increase P availability in soils, some of the difficulties... |
