Effect of commercial mycorrhiza application on the growth performance of castor

• Main Author: Kelvin Kalianon
• Format: Academic Exercise
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: SB Plant culture
• Online Access: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/17080/1/effect_of_commercial_mycorrhiza_application_on_the_growth.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/17080/

This study was conducted from August 2013 to November 2013 outside the Greenhouse area of School of Sustainable Agriculture (SSA), Universiti Malaysia Sabah. This study was carried out to determine the effect of commercial mycorrhiza application on the growth performance of Castor (Ricinus communis L.) throughout 90 days of study. The treatments in this study were three different concentrations of commercial mycorrhiza MYCOGOLD, fertilizer treatment (NPK Green) and control treatment. Each treatment consisted of six replications. The three different level of commercial mycorrhiza were 50 g, 100 g and 150 g while the amount of fertilizer applied is 17.56 g. The experimental design used was Completely Randomized design (CRD) and all the collected data were analyzed by using one one-way ANOVA statistical test at 0.05% significant level. As the results, application of 50 g, 100g and 150 g MYCOGOLD slightly increased the vegetative growth of Ricinus communis L. Application of 17.56 g of NPK fertilizer was seen to increase the overall growth of Ricinus communis L. Results for evaluations of postharvest parameters however showed that several replicates experienced nutrient defiCiency. Yield of capsules were managed to be obtained at the end on day observation. Quantification for mycorrhizal infections on roots of Castor showed significant increase starting from week five until week nine. Nevertheless, the mycorrhiza was found to be inefficient in its performance due to the high phosphorus (P) content (167.408 ppm) in the compost soil used. Thus, it is very crucial to apply mycorrhiza inoculum in soil with low level of phosphorus content in order to get the fungi maximum performance.