In order to screen the strains with potential applications in microbial fertilizer,phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms were screened from rhizosphere soil of tea plants grown in brown-yellow soil of Xinyang area in Henan province,using dilution-culture method on selective media.The results showed that a total of 36 phosphate-solubilizing bacterial strains(PSBs)were obtained.Among the 36 PSBs,23 strains could solubilize inorganic phosphate,and 1 3 strains could solubilize organic phosphate.The 3 6 PSBs mainly distributed in Bacillus,Paenibacillus,Burkholdeia,Enterobacter,Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas,in which,Bacillus spp.and Paenibacillus spp.were the dominant population in rhizosphere soil of tea plants.Phosphate-solubilizing ability of 3 6 PSBs were assayed,and the results indicated that strains of Bacillus cereus,Paenibacillus spp.and Burkholdeia spp.could solubilize both inorganic phosphate and organic phosphate,but strains of Pseudomonas spp.could only solubilize organic phosphate.Among 2 3 inorganic PSBs,the inorganic phosphate-solubilizng activities of 1 8 strains were more than 100μg/mL,and the organic phosphate-solubilizng activities of 13 strains were more than 4 0μg/mL.