Microbes-Coated Urea for Reducing Urea Dose of Strawberry Early Growth in Soilless Media

[摘要] Strawberry is a high-value fruit in Indonesia. During the growth phase for transplant production, farmers applied conventional urea that is easy to volatile and leach. Coated Urea has proven to reduce nitrogen (N) losses from urea fertilizer. Microbial-coated urea application is a reliable way to limit the loss of N from urea and at the same time increase the use of biofertilizer. Azotobacter and Bacillus are widely used as a biofertilizer formulation. This experimental objective was to determine the effect of two formulations and doses of urea coated with solid organic inoculant of Azotobacter and Bacillus on the growth parameters of strawberry seedling as well as reducing urea fertilizer. The green house experiment was carried out in randomized completely block design (RCBD) with five treatments and five replications. One-month old strawberry cv Festival seedlings were grown in coco peat based organic substrate. The seedlings were treated with four combinations of two doses and formulation of microbial coated urea (MCU). Control seedlings received a dose of conventional prilled urea. The results showed that MCU affected root dry weight, root volume, root to shoot ratio, SPAD value, and N uptake but did not significantly affect shoot parameters compared to controls. The best composition of urea coated material was compost-based inoculant enriched with 5% zeolite and 5% liquid inoculant. Moreover, this experiment explained that microbial-coated urea might replace 50% of conventional urea.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）

[关键词] Bacteria coated Urea;Azotobacter sp.;Bacillus sp.;Zeolite;Fertilizers doses;Strawberry growth