Improving Phytochemical and Nutritional Quality of Spinach (Spinacia oleracea)through Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria

Author(s):  
K. Sreedevi Shankar ◽  
K. Suma ◽  
K. Bhuvana Chary ◽  
A. Prem Kumar ◽  
Minakshi Grover ◽  
...  
2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Richard Gunawan ◽  
Iswandi Anas ◽  
Fahrizal Hazra

<p>Azotobacter, Azospirillum and phosphate solubilizing bacteria are the most common microbial inoculants used as biofertilizer. To have good quality of biofertilizer, the high number of inoculant cells and suitable carriers as well as the method of carrier sterilization are among the most important factors determined the quality of biofertilizer. Related to the number of inoculant cells in carriers, the growing medium used to cultivate the microbial cells play very important role. For mass production of microbial cells, the medium should be able to support fast growth of microbial cells. The price of medium should be reasonably cheap and the materials used in medium should be available easily. The purpose of this study was to obtain a cheap growing medium that can support high number of microbial inoculant cells and the components of the medium should be easyly obtain and the price is not expensive. The study was conducted at the Department of Soil Science and Land Resources, Faculty of Agriculture, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB). The results showed that the medium IPB RI-1 was able to support the growth of 1010 cfu ml-1 Azotobacter, 108 cfu ml-1 Azospirillum and 109 cfu ml-1 Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria. The number of bacterial cells in Nutrient Broth medium was only 108 cfu ml-1. This means that the IPB RI-1 medium was able to produce 100-fold population of Azotobacter compared to the growth of this bacterium in Nutrient Broth and Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria was 10-fold higher than population in Nutrient Broth medium. The costs of the IPB RI-1 and IPB RI-2 were much cheaper compared to the cost of Nutrient Broth medium. The cost of medium IPB RI-1 only 3% (IDR 945) and IPB RI-2 about 2% (IDR 690) of the cost of Nutrient Broth medium (IDR 27,752) per liter medium in the year of 2010.<br />Keywords : Alternative media, Azotobacter, Azospirillum, Nutrient Broth, Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria</p>


HortScience ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 1057A-1057
Author(s):  
Alexis M. Barbarin ◽  
Frank J. Williams ◽  
Greg T. Bettmann ◽  
Donald P. Hauber ◽  
Harish H. Ratnayaka

'Knowledge of constitutive levels of gas exchange and antioxidant properties under unstressed conditions is critical for elucidating their potential roles in stress tolerance, planning cultural practices, and evaluating nutritional quality of vegetable crops. This greenhouse study reports gas exchange, photosystem II efficiency, and pigment and antioxidant profiles of two spinach cultivars [SpinaciaoleraceaL., cvs. Bloomsdale Long Standing (Bloomsdale) and Hybrid Tyee (Tyee)] with contrasting morphology. `Bloomsdale', the cultivar with more compact stature and larger leaves, had 47% greater photosynthesis (Pnet) than `Tyee'. Stomatal conductance (gs) and transpiration (E) were 94% and 46% greater in `Bloomsdale' than `Tyee', respectively. However, photosystem II efficiency (Fv'/Fm') was only 8% greater in `Bloomsdale' than `Tyee'. Instantaneous water use efficiency was similar in both cultivars. `Bloomsdale' had nonsignificantly greater concentrations of chlorophylls a and b, lutein, β-carotene and violaxanthin than `Tyee'. Both cultivars had similar, marginal α-tocopherol concentrations (<0.1 ng·g-1 FW). However, `Tyee' had a greater chlorophyll a:b ratio which, combined with lower gs and E, suggests a possible advantage for `Tyee' over `Bloomsdale' under relatively dry and high light conditions. Further studies must be conducted to compare nutritional quality of the two cultivars, based on constitutive levels of pigments and antioxidants. Greater gas exchange activity in `Bloomsdale' than `Tyee' appears to be due more to CO2 acquisition/metabolism than photosystem II efficiency or concentrations of pigments and antioxidants.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamanreet Kaur

Urbanization and industrialization resulted in rapid increase in volume of solid waste; its management has become one of the biggest problems today. Solid wastes can be disposed off by methods like land filling, incineration, conversion into biogas, recycling, and composting, but its overproduction has led to inappropriate disposal practices such as their indiscriminate and inappropriately timed application to agricultural fields that ultimately leads to water and soil pollution. However, if handled properly, these organic wastes can be used for vermicomposting; it is an effective recycling technology that improves the quality of the products which is disinfected, detoxified, and highly nutritive. It is a low cost, eco-biotechnological process of waste management in which earthworms are used to cooperate with microorganisms in order to convert biodegradable wastes into organic fertilizer. Earthworms excreta (vermicast) is a nutritive organic fertilizer rich in humus, NPK, micronutrients, beneficial soil microbes; nitrogen-fixing, phosphate solubilizing bacteria, actinomycets, and growth hormones auxins, gibberlins and cytokinins, is a suitable alternative to chemical fertilizers, being an excellent growth promoter and protector for crop plants. Thus, vermiculture not only results in management of soild waste but also produces excellent nutrient enriched vermicompost. Vermicompost is beneficial for sustainable organic agriculture and maintaining balanced ecosystem.


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