Viability and Effectiveness of Biofertilizer Treated with Drying Techniques and Length of Storage.

Abstract

The use of biofertilizer in agriculture can promote growth and production of plant and environmentally friendly. The purpose of this research was to analyze the viability and effectiveness of biofertilizers on growth and production of upland rice and maize after a periode of storage. Biofertilizer was a consortium of bacterial isolates consisted of Azotobacter sp strain HY1141, Azospirillum sp strain NS01, Bacillus subtilis strain HU48, and Pseudomonas beteli strain ATCC1986IT. This biofertlizer was produced using two drying techniques and stored for different periods. Viability test was carried out using serial dilution method. Effectiveness test was conducted to the upland rice var. Situbagendit and maize var. Bisma grown in the field. Two experiments were conducted using a randomized block design. In the first experiment, one factor of treatment was applied consisting of 6 levels: without biofertilizer (H0), liquid biofertilizer (H1), freeze dried biofertilizer stored for 0 months (H2), concentrated biofertilizer stored for 0 months (H3), freeze dried biofertilizer stored for 3 months (H4), and concentrated biofertilizer stored for 3 months (H5). The second experiment, consisted of 2 factors i.e anorganic fertilizers (A) and biofertilizer (H). The anorganic fertilizer consisted of 50% (A0) and 100% (A1) of recommended dosage, while biofertilizers consisted of 4 factors including without biofertilizer (H0), liquid biofertilizer (H1), freeze dried biofertilizer (H2), and concentrated biofertilizer (H3). The results showed that concentrated biofertilizer had a high level of viability in comparison with freeze dried biofertilizer. In the field experiment, biofertilizers caused significant improvement on the most parameters observed. The percentage of nutrient uptake increased significantly especially in the treatment of H2 and H3. Biofertilizers, application H2 and H3, increased plant production up to 33.2% in rice and 47.41% in maize. Even though it was not always significant, the sinergical effect of biofertilizers in combining with anorganic fertilizers was observed in upland rice. The treatment of biofertilizers, especially H3 in combining with 100% dosage of anorganic fertilizers showed the best effect on growth and production of maize. The result showes that biofertilizer containing rhizobacteria has an important role in increasing growth and production of rice and maize.

Penggunaan pupuk hayati dalam pertanian dapat memacu pertumbuhan dan produksi tanaman yang ramah lingkungan. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah mengetahui viabilitas pupuk hayati yang diproduksi dengan beberapa teknik pengeringan dan lama penyimpanan yang berbeda serta efektivitasnya terhadap pertumbuhan dan produksi tanaman padi gogo dan jagung.