Biofertilizers as complementary amendment to the sole use of chemical fertilizers in an oil palm plantation

• Main Author: Noor Khairani Mohamad Basri
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: S631-667 Fertilizers and improvement of the soil
• Online Access: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/42214/1/24%20PAGES.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/42214/2/FULLTEXT.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/42214/

The large tracts of land occupied by oil palm in Malaysia which mainly comprise highly weathered and generally infertile soils require chemical fertilizer use to achieve and sustain high crop yields. The use of biofertilizers is one alternative approach to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers. The primary objectives of this study are to evaluate the effects of biofertilizers on the growth and yield of oil palm, soil chemical and microbial properties and to compare the financial cost benefits between using biofertilizers and conventional fertilizer practices. The study was conducted for three years at Sekong Estate, Genting Plantations in Sandakan, Sabah. A randomized complete block design consisting of 10 treatments with 4 replications each was used in this study. The treatments were three microbial based biofertilizers namely Living Soil Microbes (LSM), Agri-Organica (AO) and Mycogold plus Agricare Bioorganik in various combinations with chemical fertilizers (CF), empty fruit bunches (EFB) and the standard estate fertilizer practice. There were no significant differences in fresh fruit bunch (FFB) yield during the first and second years of the study. However, there were significant differences in FFB yield in the third year. In year 3, the combined application of LSM + EFB + 50% chemical fertilizer resulted in the highest FFB yield (26.17 tons ha-1 per year) and the lowest FFB yield was for the zero treatment with a yield of 16.71 tons ha-1 per year. The highest oil to bunch ratio (OTB) and mean fruit weight (MFW) resulted from the combined application of LSM + EFB + 50% chemical fertilizer. The combined use of chemical fertilizers, EFB and LSM significantly (p<0.05) influenced leaf area in year 3 of treatment with the highest leaf area of 12.79 m2, 8.21% higher than the standard estate practice. For the soil properties and soil microbial population, there were generally better results for the combined application of LSM +EFB + 50% chemical fertilizer compared to other treatments. The highest total bacteria, actinomycetes and fungi counts were found for both the combined application of LSM + EFB, and the combined application of LSM + EFB + 50% chemical fertilizer. Soil pH at 0-15cm depth increased for all treatments containing biofertilizers but the chemical fertilizer containing treatments decreased the soil pH. The biofertilizer and EFB treatments significantly affected soil total N, available P, exchangeable K and Mg at 0-15 cm soil depth. The application of LSM + EFB + 50% chemical fertilizer resulted in 7.55 % better cost-benefit compared to the conventional fertilizer practice. A combination of LSM, EFB and 50% chemical fertilizer was the best treatment. The millions of hectares of oil palm plantations on mineral soils can consider ways of adopting this approach to fertilization as a form of good and sustainable agriculture practice.