Influence of biofertilizers application to improve growth and yield of celery in Andisols

Abstract

Increasing crop production in sustainable agriculture needs environmentally friendly inputs. Biofertilizers are fertilizers that contain beneficial soil microbes capable of facilitating the availability of soil nutrients. The experiment was carried out to examine the effect of application of biofertilizers on the growth and yield of celery on Andisols of West Java, Indonesia. The field experiment using a Randomized Block Design (RBD) consisted of five treatments with six replications. The treatments consisted of four types of biofertilizer, and one control treatment, , included: inorganic compound NPK fertilizer (control), microbial coated urea I, microbial coated urea II, mixed biofertilizer, mixed biofertilizer phosphate enriched nitrogen microbes. The microbial coated urea consists of Azotobacter and Bacillus bacteria composition, this formula is made by coating prilled urea with concentration liquid biofertilizer of microbe coated urea I 10%, and microbe coated urea II 5%. The consortium biofertilizer is formulated in liquid inoculant consists of N-fixing bacteria Azotobacter chroococcum, A. vinelandii, Azospirillum sp. and Acinetobacter sp., P-solubilizing microbes Burkholderia cepacea and Penicillium sp.. The mixed biofertilizer phosphate consists of Burkholderia cepace, Pseudomonas mallei, Aspergillus niger and Penicillium sp. The results showed that application of mixed biofertilizers consists of N-fixing bacteria Azotobacter chroococcum, A. vinelandii, Azospirillum sp. and Acinetobacter sp., P-solubilizing microbes Burkholderia cepacea and Penicillium sp. had better in increasing for growth and yield of celery.