Study on the effect of nitrohumate on the germination of vegetables

• Main Author: Noor Fazila, Rejli
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2007
• Subjects: QD Chemistry; QE Geology
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/33403/2/Noor%20Fazila.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/33403/

Humate are widely marketed as soil conditioner that changes the soil fixation properties thus stimulating root growth, increasing germination and viability of seeds. This study is conducted to extract and to evaluate the effectiveness of nitrohumic acids from Mukah coal on plant growth with particular interest on the germination of vegetables. Nitrohumic acids were prepared with nitration process by pre-treating the coal sample with 10% nitric acid before the alkaline extraction. In alkaline extraction, nitrated coal sample were added with potassium hydroxide, KOH (0.5M) and heated at 70 °C for 2 hours. The average yield of humate is 78.51%. Three concentration of humate solutions (300 mg/L, 500 mg/L and 1,000 mg/L) and distilled water as a control were prepared for germination of three types of vegetable seeds, Ipomea aquatica (water spinach), Abelmoschhus esculentus (lady's finger) and Raphanus sativus (Chinese radish) on three layer of papers for four replicates in the presence of sunlight and at dark. Humic acids improved the germination of Raphanus sativus and Hibiscus esculentus but retarded the growth of Hibiscus esculentus in 1000 mg/L humate solution. However, humic acids did not improved the germination of Ipomea sp..