Composts were produced from rice straw enriched with rock phosphate and inoculated with Aspergillus niger, Trichoderma viride and/or farmyard manure (FYM). The resulting composts were evaluated as organic phosphate fertilizers for cowpea plants in pot experiments. The results showed that the maximum amount of soluble phosphorous (1000 ppm) was produced in composts inoculatcd with A. niger + T viride with or without FYM. Any of the produced composts was much better than superphosphate fertilizer in providing the growing cowpea plants with phosphorous. Fertilization of the cowpea plants with the compost inoculated with FYM + A. niger + T viride resulted in maximum amount of phosphorous uptake (295 ppm). The highest phosphate dissolving fungi numbers in rhizosphere soils of cowpea plants were obtained after fertilization with composts which received A. niger and T viride treatments, while the highest phosphate dissolving bacterial numbers were found after fertilization with composts which received FYM treatments. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.