The effectiveness of application of phosphorous and potassium solubilizing multifunctional microbes (Aspergillus costaricaensis and Staphylococcus pasteuri mutants) on maize growth

Abstract

The use of phosphorus and potassium-solubilizing microbes as biofertilizers is an alternative method to increase the availability of phosphorus and potassium in soils. This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K)-solubilizing multifunctional microbes (Aspergillus costaricaensis and Staphylococcus pasteuri mutants) on maize growth. The stages of this study consisted of viability test of P and K solubilizing A. costaricaensis and S. pasteuri mutants in peat and effectiveness test of P and K solubilizing A. costaricaensis and S. pasteuri mutants on maize growth. The results showed that peat carriers could keep the fungi population stable until 18 weeks of storage times. While the bacteria at 6 and 8 weeks storage times showed a slight decrease and stable in the 10 to 12 weeks storage time. The addition of P and K-solubilizing multifunctional microbes could reduce the use of fertilizer up to 50% in the treatment with a combination of easily soluble P or K sources with not-easily soluble P or K sources, as well as a combination of treatments of not-easily soluble P and K sources. This tended to occur in the treatment with the addition of A. costaricaensis mutant.

Use of phosphorus- and potassium-solubilizing multifunctional microbes to support maize growth and yield

“…Effectiveness of S. pasteuri and A. costaricaensis on nutrient P (P-total (P2O5) and P-available) (a), nutrient K (K-total (K2O) and K-available) (b) and K-exchangeable (c) of soil in rhizosphere area .77 b Remarks: a Numbers followed by the same letter in the same column show results that are not significantly different based on the DMRT test at a 5% significance level; b P1M0:control with easily soluble P (SP-36) and K (KCl) sources; c P2M0: control with not easily soluble P (rock P) and K (feldspar) sources Stalk dry weight in mutant A. costaricaensis treatment was not significantly different from that in chemical fertilizer treatment, indicating that mutant A. costaricaensis could provide nutrients as much as chemical fertilizer to support stalk dry weight. A similar result was also reported by Sukmadewi et al (2021), who found that treatment with mutant A. costaricaensis combined with rock P and KCl (50% dose) could produce the highest stalk dry weight. Stalk dry weight is the weight of stalk tissue that is not affected by plant water content.…”

“…This turgor plant body is influenced by good water regulation in the plant body. Mutant A. costaricaensis can provide sufficient nutrients for plant growth except K. Sukmadewi et al (2021) also reported that mutant A. costaricaensis tended to show the same effects on plant height, stalk, and root dry weight as the easily soluble P and K source control (chemical fertilizer) treatment. According to nutrient uptake data (Table 5), the P nutrient uptake showed no significant difference under mutant A. costaricaensis and chemical fertilizer treatments.…”

“…A viability test was conducted in Soil Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Soil Science and Land Resources, Faculty of Agriculture, IPB University. Wild-type and mutant (gamma ray dose of 2.5 kGy) S. pasteuri and A. costaricaencis were obtained from the previous study by Sukmadewi et al (2021). Zeolite was used as a microbe carrier, a component generally included in biofertilizer formulation to keep microbes alive and stable during storage.…”

“…Meena et al (2014) confirmed that KSM could dissolve insoluble K sources such as feldspar and mica. Staphylococcus pasteuri and Aspergillus costariecaensis can simultaneously solubilize P and K and thus were named as multifunctional microbes (Sukmadewi et al, 2021).…”

“…This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of P-and Ksolubilizing multifunctional microbes (A. costaricaensis and S. pasteuri) from the previous study by Sukmadewi et al (2021). Both microbe mutants used in the present work were irradiated with gamma rays at a dose of 2.5 kGy.…”