The application of Klebsiella sp. and Rhizobium radiobacter as biofertilizer and Palm Oil Mills Effluent (POME) as organic fertilizer on growth of Paraserianthes falcataria

The Bio and organic fertilizers are cheap and environmentally friendly source of plant nutrients for agricultural yields and environmental quality improvement. The study aimed to evaluate the application of biofertilizer and Palm oil mills effluent (POME) either singly or in combination on growth of Paraserianthes falcataria under greenhouse condition. The study was laid out in factorial based Completely Randomized Design (CRD) design which was comprised of biofertilizer treatments (Control without bacteria, Klebsiella sp, Rhizobium radiobacter, Klebsiella sp + Rhizobium radiobacter) and five concentrations of POME treatments (0%, 10%, 25%, 50%, 100%) with 3 replicates for each treatment. The results revealed that inoculation with biofertilizer treatments along with POME significantly enhanced plant growth parameters, soil available P, soil phosphatase activity and soil bacterial population. Combination of Rhizobium radiobacter and POME 50% induced the highest increase of shoot length (10.17 ± 0.83cm), root length (28.67±0.88cm), shoot dry weight (0.48± 0.006g), and root dry weight (0.25±0.013g). The highest soil phosphatase activity was obtained in the combination Klebsiella sp. and POME 25% treated soil. The application of Rhizobium radiobacter along with POME at 10% and 25% concentrations reached its highest level of soluble soil P (4.07 ppm) and soil bacterial population (48.33 10⁷ cfu/g of soil) respectively.