As part of its Fertilizer and Plant Nutrition Bulletin series, FAO has just published "Guide to laboratory establishment for plant nutrient analysis" by M.R. Motsara and R.N. Roy. This 204-page publication provides practical guidelines on establishing service laboratories for the analysis of soil, plants, water and fertilizers. It also dedicates a chapter to biofertilizer assay and production, discussing the bacterial cultures that serve either as a source of nitrogen, such as Rhizobium, Azotobacter and Azospirillum, or for improving the availability of soil phosphorus, such as phosphate-solubilizing microbes. It provides methods for their isolation, identification, multiplication and commercial production. See http://www.fao.org/docrep/011/i0131e/i0131e00.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.

29/10/2008