Author : María del Carmen Rivera-Cruz^a, Antonio Trujillo Narcía^a, Georgina Córdova Ballonaa, Josef Kohlerc, Fuensanta Caravaca^c and Antonio Roldán^c.

Address : (^aColegio de Postgraduados, Department of Environmental Microbiology. Campus de Tabasco, 86500 Cárdenas, Mexico, ^bUniversidad Autónoma de Guadalajara. Campus de Tabasco, 86039 Villahermosa, Mexico, ^cCSIC-Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura, Department of Soil and Water Conservation, P.O. Box 164, Campus de Espinardo, 30100 Murcia, Spain).

Abstract : Poultry manure and banana waste are effective biofertilizer carriers for promoting plant growth and soil sustainability in banana crops.

Journal : Soil Biology and Biochemistry,

Volume No. : Volume 40(12)

Publish Year : 2008

Page No. : 3092-3095

Main Data : The aims of our study were to compare the effectiveness of poultry manure (PM) and banana waste (BW), with regard to their use as inoculant carriers of a bacterial consortium constituted by strains of Azospirillum, Azotobacter and P-solubiliser bacteria and to establish the most efficient dose of biofertilizer for a soil cultivated with banana (Musa paradisiaca AAA Simmonds), with respect to improving plant performance and soil physical and microbiological properties. Six months after planting, plant growth had increased with increase in dose of the biofertilizers applied. The biofertilizer prepared on BW enhanced the density of P-solubiliser bacteria, the concentrations of available P and foliar P to a greater extent than with the biofertilizer prepared on PM. The increases produced by the biofertilizer prepared on PM for the soil aggregate stability, enzymatic activities and the labile carbon fractions were highly correlated to the dose applied. Both biofertilizers can be considered potentially useful as inoculant carriers of PGPR but the usefulness of BW appears to be restricted to moderate doses of application (≤3%). Keywords: Aggregate stability; Azospirillum; Azotobacter; Biofertilizer; Enzymatic activity; PGPR