Isolation and Characterization of Effective Microorganism from Oil Palm Rhizhopheric Soil and Evaluation of Their Potential as Biofertiliser

Abstract

Plant nutrients are vital components of sustainable agriculture. Soil microorganisms play a significant role in regulating dynamics of organic matter decomposition and availability of plant nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphate (P) and sulphur (S), as well as stimulating plant growth. Soil microbial inoculants associated with rhizosphere region of plants work as biofertilisers. In this study, beneficial bacteria were isolated from rhizospheric soils collected from an oil palm plantation in Temerloh, Pahang, Malaysia. Rhizospheric soils (n = 6) were sampled from oil palm plants with heavy production of fresh fruit bunches, due to supplementation of biofertiliser. Isolation of bacteria was carried out on soil extract agar using a dilution plate method. Total bacterial count from isolation plates was in the range of 6.0 × 107 to 7.3 × 107 cfu per gram of soil. All bacterial isolates (n = 150) were purified and characterised for production of plant beneficial enzymes and hormones such as indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), siderophore, nitrogenase and phosphatase. Two bacterial isolates that were positive in phosphate solubilising assay, nitrogen fixers and IAA producers assay were identified as Brevibacillus sp., and Burkholderia sp. respectively, based on 16S rRNA gene sequences.