Abstract:
Peatland is area with high organic matter content and is widely used by various
bacteria, one of which is phosphate solubilizing bacteria (BPF). BPF is a soil microbe
that is capable of dissolving phosphate by excreting a number of organic acids such as
oxalate, succinic, fumaric, and malic. The bacteria also produce phosphatase and phytase
enzymes. This study aimed to isolate, characterize and analyze the ability of bacteria in
solubilizing phosphate. Soil samples were taken randomly and bacteria isolation was
carried out using the pour plate method with Pikovskaya selective agar media. Phosphate
dissolving activity was tested by observing the formation of a clear zone around the
colony and measuring the phosphate dissolution index. Eight isolates of phosphatesolubilizing
bacteria were successfully obtained from peat soil from Bengkalis, two of
which were potential in dissolving phosphate, namely isolate GBS-1 with colony
morphological characters having a circular shape, entire margin, convex elevation, and
yellow color. Whereas isolate GBK-2 had a circular shape, entire margin, convex
elevation, and milky white color. Each isolate had a phosphate solubilization index of
3.68 and 4.82, respectively.