Effects of Bacillus salmalaya strain 139SI on oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) growth and yield / Md Hoirul Azri Ponari

Md Hoirul Azri , Ponari (2018) Effects of Bacillus salmalaya strain 139SI on oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) growth and yield / Md Hoirul Azri Ponari. PhD thesis, Universiti Malaya.

	PDF (The Candidate's Agreement) Restricted to Repository staff only Download (172Kb)
Preview	PDF (Thesis PhD) Download (2978Kb) | Preview

Abstract

Plant-microbe interactions in the rhizosphere are one of the most important determining factors that could influence soil fertility and plant growth. Thus, a pre-nursery to field-scale experiment was conducted to study the potential of a new strain of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), Bacillus salmalaya strain 139SI on soil fertility, oil palm nutrient uptake, physiology and fresh fruit bunch (FFB) yield. The early screening on the plant growth-promoting features of the B. salmalaya strain 139SI showed that the strain was positive for indole acetic acid (IAA) and siderophores production. The strain was also involved in biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) and able to solubilize phosphate. Analysis of strain 139SI colonization showed that the strain colonized and attached to the root surface by forming a biofilm. The strain 139SI was identified as endophytic bacteria as it showed the ability to colonize plant rhizosphere and penetrate into the plant internal root tissue. The plant growth promoting features of strain 139SI were further confirmed by growth enhancement of oil palm seedling inoculated with this strain in the nursery experiment. Analysis of soil nutrient content found that inoculation of 139SI increases totals N content in the soil. In addition, the results of the nursery experiment also revealed the synergistic effects of 139SI inoculation with chemical fertilizer. Addition of strain 139SI inoculation to the fertilized palm produces the best results for plant growth and significantly enhanced nutrient uptake. Ultimately, enhanced in palm nutrients uptake has directly increased the photosynthetic activity. A one year of field experiment found that inoculation of B. salmalaya strain 139SI produced higher palm fresh fruit bunch (FFB) yield over the untreated. Integrating the 139SI inoculant with inorganic fertilizer resulted in more substantial FFB yield than palm received recommended inorganic fertilizer rate. Enhancement of N level in soil samples from field site and nutrient uptake was also recorded in strain 139SI inoculated palm. While the number of bunches produced by palm, the oil extraction rate, and fatty acid profile shows comparable reading among all treatments. The overall findings of this study suggest that associations of this novel strain with oil palm at the early stage of growth could enhance growth quality of oil palm seedlings, hence, enable better adaptation of the seedlings to the environmental conditions of the planting site. The potential of strain 139SI in enhancing oil palm yield as evidenced in the field experiment, for the first time provides the information on the potential of integrating PGPR in oil palm agronomic practice. Furthermore, the synergistic effect of this strain in optimizing the fertilizer use efficiency could lead to more sustainable agriculture practice in oil palm industry.

Actions (For repository staff only : Login required)