The nutmeg seedlings growth under pot culture with biofertilizers inoculation

Abstract

Nutmeg is important for national and community revenue mainly in Maluku Province where nutmeg seedlings are grown in low-fertility soil without fertilizer. A greenhouse experiment was performed to evaluate the response of nutmeg seedlings following the application of two different biofertilizer concortia. The experimental design was completely randomized block design, which tested the combination treatments of two rates and the application methods of biofertilizer concortium. The rates of “bacillus biofertilizer” was 0.15 and 0.3%, while the rates of “mixed biofertilizer” was 0.5 and 1.0%. Both biofertilizer were inoculated by foliar spray and soil application. The results verified that at 24 weeks after inoculation, biofertilizers increased the seedling growth traits which included plant height, shoot dry weight, leaf surface area, root number, and root dry weight over the control. Soil application by 1% of “mixed biofertilizer” consists of nitrogen-fixing bacteria and phosphate-solubilizing microbes resulted in better seedlings performance. However, the highest plant height was demonstrated by seedlings treated with 0.3% “bacillus biofertilizer” composed of phosphate solubilizing Bacillus. Biofertilizer inoculation also enhanced soil microbes and leaf surface area but did not change the root-to-shoot ratio of the seedlings. The results showed that biofertilizer inoculation improves the growth of nutmeg seedlings.

Keywords

• nitrogen-fixing bacteria
• phosphate-solubilizing microbes
• phytohormones
• seedling growth