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Life Science Archives (LSA)

ISSN: 2454-1354
Volume 1; Issue - 3; Year 2015; Page: 192 - 195

Research Article

STUDIES ON EVALUATION OF PLANT GROWTH PROMOTING

EFFECT OF FERMENTED FISH WASTE ON Vigna radiate
S. Suganthi* and J. Sujatha
PG and Research Department of Microbiology, Sri Akilandeswari Womens College, Wandiwash,
Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, India
Abstract
This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermented fish waste collected
from Saidapet fish market on the growth of Vigna radiate (mung bean) plants. Fermented fish waste was prepared by
using 50 g of fish waste such as head, gut, fins and bones boiled with 1000 ml of distilled water for 5 minutes and
filtering the extract with musclin cloth after 30 minutes. The extract was fermented with Saccharomyces cerevisiae
(1%) and molasses (10%) at room temperature for a time period of 7 days. The plant growth promoting effect of the
fermented fish waste was studied in cup-assay. The seeds sowed in different concentration of the sample were allowed
to grow for 7 days and the growth parameters such as root length, shoot length, number of hairy roots were recorded.
The results obtained suggest that the fermented fish waste was effective in promoting plant growth upto a
concentration of 50%. Fermented fish waste, is found to enrich the soil nutrients required for Vigna radiate

plant growth. Thus, fermented fish waste could be used as a valuable organic liquid fertilizer for better yield
from crops at lesser cost and also without the harmful effects of chemical fertilizers.
Article History
Received :
Revised :
Accepted :
1. Introduction

Key words: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Vigna

radiate (mung bean), Fermented fish waste and
Molasses.

10.04.2015
16.05.2015
22.05.2015

Bio fertilizers have been recognized in

Indian agriculture since last three decades in view
of their low cost, effectiveness, contribution in
crop productivity, soil sustainability and ecofriendly nature. Fish consumption continues to
increase steadily worldwide and seafood is gaining
in popularity because of its health benefits. At the
same time, large amounts of fish waste are being
generated, mostly from the industrial processing
of fish. These large quantities of fish waste have
not been utilized efficiently, and the disposal of
fish waste can have large negative impacts on
local environments. Unutilized fish waste is often
* Corresponding author: S. Suganthi
Tel.: +91-9600916225

E-mail: jayalakshmichand26@gmail.com

disposed of by landfill or incineration, or by

dumping into the sea. Therefore, there is an urgent
need to find ecologically acceptable means for
reutilizing fish waste. Conventional methods for
reutilization include ensilation and the production
of high-protein meal used in animal feeds (Faid et
al., 1997). Composting has also been suggested as
a viable solution to the problem of fish waste
disposal (Liao et al., 1997), and fermentation has
been studied as a means of producing fish protein
for use in animal feed (Hassan and Heath, 1986;
Faid et al., 1997). For practical reutilization of this
fish waste as liquid fertilizer, the feasibility of
commercialization must be evaluated. Therefore,
in this study, the cost-effectiveness of the
bioconversion of fish waste into liquid fertilizer
for Vigna radiate in a 5-L reactor was
demonstrated.

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S. Suganthi/Life Science Archives (LSA), Volume 1, Issue 3, Page 192 to 195, 2015
2. Materials and Methods
Preparation and fermentation of fish waste
Fifty g of fish waste was collected from
local market and boiled with 1000 ml distilled
water for 5 minutes and allowed to stand for 30
minutes. The extract was then filtered using
muslin cloth and stored. The extract thus obtained
was taken for fermentation by the addition of
Yeast (1%) and molasses (10%) at room
temperature for a time period of 7 days (Doss et
al, 2008). The fermented fish waste was recovered
by centrifugation at 6000 rpm, 20 min and was
sterilized at 121C for 15 min.
Seed Germination Procedure
The seeds were washed with tap water and
then surface sterilized using 2% Sodium
hypochlorite for 2 minutes. Again the seeds were
washed with distilled water 2 - 5 times and to
check the effect of the product on plant growth,
the seeds were soaked in the fermented fish waste.
Petriplates were sterilized by keeping blotting
papers inside them. The seeds were transferred to
the petriplates and the moisture content was
maintained. The result was observed after 4 - 5
days (Mosha, 1983).
Plant growth promotion using fermented fish
waste cup assay
The germinated seeds were sowed in soil
treated with different concentration (1, 10, 20, 40
and 50 %) of the fermented fish waste in plastic
cups and the effect of the product in plant growth
promotion was studied. The moisture content was
maintained by sprinkling water on a daily basis.
After 7 days of growth, the plantlets were
carefully removed and evaluated for plant growth
parameters.
Evaluation of plant growth parameters
Bulk production
The germinated seeds were sowed in soil
treated with different concentration (1, 10, 20, 30,
40 and 50 %) of fermented fish waste in plastic

193

cups and the effect of the product in plant growth

promotion was studied. The optimization was
tabulated with the higher increase in root length,
shoot length, No. of hairy roots, No. of leaves thus
50% gives better result.
Extraction of plant tissue
The plant tissue was extracted using
either acetone or 80% ethanol. Freshly plucked
leaves were homogenized in a mortar and pestle
using the solvent
Estimation of plant tissue components
Estimation of chlorophyll was done by
DMSO method. Estimation of Protein in plant
tissues was done by Bradford Method. Estimation
of Reducing Sugars in plant tissues was done by
Dinitrosalicylic Acid (DNS) method. Estimation
of Total Phenols was done by Folin Phenol
Method. Chemical Detection of IAA in plant
tissue was performed using 2% Ehrlichs reagent.
3. Results and Discussion
The seeds of Vigna radiate were soaked in
100% concentration of product for 24 hours and
then taken for germination. The plant growth
promoting effect of the fermented fish waste was
studied in cup-assay. The seeds sowed in different
concentration of the sample were allowed to grow
for 7 days and the growth parameters such as root
length, shoot length, number of hairy roots were
recorded. The results obtained suggest that the
fermented fish waste was effective in promoting
plant growth upto a concentration of 50%. Seeds
were soaked in different percentage (1, 10, 20, 30,
40 and 50 %) of product and their germination
was studied and observed. Their percentage of
germination, root length, shoot length, Number of
hairy roots, Number of leaves were observed.
About 50% of plants gives better results.
Biofertilizers being essential components
of organic farming play vital role in maintaining
long term soil fertility and sustainability by fixing
atmospheric dinitrogen (N=N), mobilizing fixed
macro and micronutrients or convert insoluble
phosphorus in the soil into forms available to
plants, there by increases their efficiency and

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S. Suganthi/Life Science Archives (LSA), Volume 1, Issue 3, Page 192 to 195, 2015

194

Table 1: Effect of fermented fish waste in plant growth promotion

(%) of
soaking
Control
1
10
20
30
40
50

No. of
seeds used
10
10
10
10
10
10
10

No. of seeds
germinated
4
6
8
8
9
9
10

%
Germination

40
60
80
80
90
90
100

Root length
(cm)
10.3
13.2
14.5
15.2
15.5
16
16.9

Shoot
length (cm)
11.9
14.3
15.6
16.2
16.9
17.9
19.2

No. of
hairy roots
9
12
18
20
22
24
39

No. of
leaves
2
2
2
2
2
2
2

Biochemical composition of the plantlets

S.No
1
2
3
4

Parameter
Total Chlorophyll
Protein
Reducing sugars
Total phenols

Composition (mg/ml)
7.74
12.54
1.16
57.45

availability. Fish waste contains important

minerals like calcium, phosphorus, potassium,
sodium, magnesium, zinc, manganese and copper
(Ghaly et al., 2013) similar to the nutritive value
as fish.

Similar results were observed in the

growth of sudan grass by waste mica inoculated
with Bacillus mucilaginosus (Basak and Biswas,
2007).

A recent study analyzed the production of

3 L of liquid fertilizer from the fermentation of
fish waste. The total product cost of the fertilizer
was calculated to be $165.26 for a one-batch
operation. If the seed culture was repeated five
times, the total product cost could be reduced to
$36.39/L. According to this analysis, the
reutilization of fish waste as liquid fertilizer was
not particularly economically attractive at present,
and plant-scale production would be necessary for
commercialization. This is the first costeffectiveness analysis of the bioconversion of fish
waste into liquid fertilizer (JoongKyun Kim,
2011).

The increase in the human

consumption of fish results in the production of
waste which can be reutilized to reduce their
negative impact on the environment. Fish is one of
the best animal food rich in proteins, minerals and
trace elements. Fermented fish waste, is found to
enrich the soil nutrients required for vigna radiate
plant growth. Thus fermented fish waste could be
used as a valuable organic liquid fertilizer for
better yield from crops at lesser cost and also
without the harmful effects of chemical fertilizers.
However, further study on the mechanism of
action in detail is required to support the results of
this pilot study.

Fermentation of the fish waste produces

significant amount of organic acids, lactic acid and
acetic acid (Antoun et al., 2001) which activates
mineral phosphate solubilization and Psolubilizers like Rhizobium (Halder et al., 1991)
and Bacillus (Yuming et al., 2003). Besides
increasing the soil phosphorus level, phosphate
solubilizers also increase the nitrogen fixation,
trace elements and plant hormones (Gyaneshwar
et al., 1998).

5. References

4. Conclusion

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S. Suganthi/Life Science Archives (LSA), Volume 1, Issue 3, Page 192 to 195, 2015

195

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