THE EFFECTS OF LIQUID

BIOFERTILIZER ON THE GROWTH OF

SPINACH AND ITS NUTRIENT
UPTAKE: A GLASSHOUSE TRIAL

Proposed by
NURUL AISHAH NABIHAH BT MOHAMAD YUSOFF (M.no.:172143)

Department of Land Management

Faculty of Agriculture
University Putra Malaysia

Supervisor:
Associate Professor Dr. Mohd Yusoff Abd Samad

1
Outlines

Introduction
Objectives
Hypothesis
Literature review
Materials and methods
Expected outcome
Research activities
References

2
 INTRODUCTION
Fertilizers supply adequate nutrients
NPK for plants

Chemical fertilizers widely used as

nutrients uptake by the plants.

Prolonged use contamination of

underground water and depleted ozone
layer.

3
 Contamination of Ground Water

NO3 NO3 NO3 NO3

NO3
CONTAMINANT : NO3
Nitrates

4
Depletion of Ozone layer

NO2

5
 Biofertilizer
- An alternative for chemical fertilizer
- Convert important elements from
unavailable to available form through the
biological process of microorganism.

6
Objectives
To determine the effect of liquid biofertilizer on the growth
of spinach.

To evaluate the effect of liquid biofertilizer on the

nutrients uptake by spinach.

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Hyphothesis

HO : The use of liquid biofertilizer do not affect

the growth of spinach and its nutrients uptake.

HA : The use of liquid biofertilizer affects the

growth of spinach and its nutrients uptake.

8
Literature Review
Application of biofertilizer for agricultural
production have potential solution to
reduce the harmful effect from synthetic
fertilizer
(Zakri, Khairuddin and Zulkifli,2012)

The use of phosphate solubilizing bacteria

as biofertilizer will increase the P uptake by
plant and enhance crop yield (Pindi and
Satyanaraya,2012)

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 Liquid biofertilizer formulation was believed to be the best
alternative for the conventional carrier based biofertilizer
in modern agriculture to enhance crop yield
as it has special cell substances that encourage the
formation of dormant spores for longer shelf life and
tolerate with the adverse condition (Pindi, 2012)

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MATERIALS AND METHODS
Liquid biofertilizer formulation

Treatments

Plant analyses Soil analyses

Plant growth parameters

Data analyses
A. Bacterial isolate
In this study, bacterial isolate is from
Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain AGKT1 will be
used as biofertilizer formulation.

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B. Liquid Medium For Biofertilizer
Formulation
The liquid medium for biofertilizer formulation will be
prepared for the experiment. The medium comprises :
1. Molasses 40 ml
2.MgSO4 .7H2O 0.10 g
3.KCl 0.2 g
4.(NH4)2SO4 0.5 g
5. MnS04. H2O 0.002 g
6.FeSO4. 7H2O 0.002g
7.NaCl 0.2g
8.1.0 L distilled water, pH 7.0.

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Biofertilizer formulation

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 Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain AGKT1

LB Broth (sterile distilled water)

Incubated (18h)

20 ml of bacteria inoculum

1L liquid medium of 2L conical flask

Incubated for 3 days (28 C)

at 100 rpm in an orbital
shaker.
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 Biofertilizer formulation

20 ml

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Culture of Pseudomonas

strain AGKT1 in LB aeruginosa strain AGKT1 in 1 L of
liquid medium as biofertilizer
formulation

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C. Effect of liquid biofertilizer on the growth
of spinach

Applied 2 weeks after

planting
Biofertilizer Spinach in a pot tray
formulation

18
 D. Experimental design and treatments
RCBD - 3 replicates per treatment

Treatments are:-

1. Control no fertilizer application

2. Normal fertilizer application using NPK blue
3. Biofertilizer application at the rate of 2.5 ml/pot (2.5ml of
biofertilizer diluted in 100ml water) sprayed at 2 weeks
after planting.
4. Biofertilizer application at the rate of 5.0ml/pot (5.0ml of
biofertilizer diluted in 100ml water) sprayed at 2 weeks
after planting.
5. Commercial liquid biofertilizer (2.5 ml/pot (2.5ml of
biofertilizer diluted in 100ml water) sprayed at 2 weeks
after planting. 19
E. Parameters measured :

Plant height (22 DAS and 29 DAS)

Fresh harvest (35 DAS).

Soil and plant analysis for N and P contents as

described by SIRIM (1980a, 1980b)

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F. Statistical Analysis

1.ANOVA

2.Means separations using Fisher's LSD

Analysed by using SAS Release 9 TS Level

00M0

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EXPECTED OUTCOMES
An efficient liquid biofertilizer which enhance the
growth parameters of spinach by the efficiency in
nutrient uptake.

It is also expected to reduce the usage of

chemical fertilizers.

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RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

25
References

Pindi.P.K and Satyanaraya.SDV (2012).Liquid microbial

consortation -A potential tool for suitable soil health.

Zakrifitri.A.A,Khairuddin.A.R,Zulkifli.H.S,Zin.Z.Z and
Anuar.A.R (2012).Contribution of nitrogent from biofertilizer
inoculum to young oil palm under field condition.

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 List of abbreviations

Scientific symbols
ml- milliliter
Cfu- Colony-forming unit
g-Gram
rpm-Revolution per minutes

Scientific names
pseudomonas aeruginosa- Common
bactrium in soil

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Special names

DAS-Day after sowing

Anova -Analysis of variance
LB broth Luria-bertani broth

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