Abstract
The full dependency on chemical fertilizers in oil palm plantation poses an enormous threat to the ecosystem through the degradation of soil and water quality through leaching to the groundwater and contaminating the river. A greenhouse study was conducted to test the effect of combinations of biofertilizers with chemical fertilizer focusing on the soil fertility, nutrient uptake, and the growth performance of oil palms seedlings. Soils used were histosol, spodosol, oxisol, and ultisol. The three treatments were T1: 100% chemical fertilizer (NPK 12:12:17), T2: 70% chemical fertilizer + 30% biofertilizer A (CF + BFA), and T3: 70% + 30% biofertilizer B (CF + BFB). T2 and T3, respectively increased the growth of oil palm seedlings and soil nutrient status but seedlings in oxisol and ultisol under T3 had the highest in almost all parameters due to the abundance of more efficient PGPR. The height of seedlings in ultisol under T3 was 22% and 17% more than T2 and T1 respectively, with enhanced girth size, chlorophyll content, with improved nutrient uptake by the seedlings. Histosol across all treatments has a high macronutrient content suggesting that the rate of chemical fertilizer application should be revised when planting using the particular soil. With the reduction of chemical fertilizer by 25%, the combined treatment with biofertilizers could enhance the growth of the oil palm seedlings and soil nutrient properties regardless of the soil orders.
Highlights
The agriculture sector is considered as one of the economy pillars in many developing nations [1].continuous use of agrochemicals such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides in this sector is detrimental to human health such as infant methemoglobinemia [2] and which cause ecological imbalance [3,4]
The aim of this study is to observe the effects of combined application of chemical fertilizer with the biofertilizer application on oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) seedlings using different soil orders under greenhouse conditions as we are looking into reducing the rates of chemical fertilizer application and investigate the effects of common problematic soils in Malaysia on the application of biofertilizers for oil palm seedlings plantation
The application of biofertilizer B (BFB) has a positive effect on the growth of seedlings in oxisol with a total increase of 22% and 17% from T2 and T1, respectively
Summary
The agriculture sector is considered as one of the economy pillars in many developing nations [1].continuous use of agrochemicals such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides in this sector is detrimental to human health such as infant methemoglobinemia [2] and which cause ecological imbalance [3,4]. This practice negatively affects the roots of the crops, making them unable to acquire nutrients [5,6]. Biofertilizers are made up from soil bacteria that are beneficial to the plants and it is known as an integrated nutrients system where nutrients required by the plants are provided by the activity of the below-ground microorganisms. This practice of using beneficial microbes in agriculture has started about 60 years ago [8]
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