Biofertilizer in Sustainable Agriculture: Review on the Researches of Biofertilizers in Iran

More than one century ago, the first commercial product of biofertilizer was produced in the world and its production in Iran was initiated around 15 years ago. According to the importance of biofertilizers in the sustainable and organic agriculture, in this paper we try to review on the biofertilizer researches in Iran, especially to the mechanism of biofertilizers actions. This paper will focus on nitrogen biofertilizers mainly to the Rhizobia, Azotobacteria, Azospirilla as well as the phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) and potassium releasing bacteria (KRB). Attention to the Arbuscular Mycorrhiza (AM) is the other aspect of this study. The isolation methods of most important microorganisms with potential to being used as a biofertilizer are taken into consideration at the end of each section of this article. At the end, we considered results of some researches on application and effects of biofertilizers on growth, yield and quality properties of plants in Iran.