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Impact of Effective Microorganisms on Germination and Seedling Growth of Mahagoni (swietenia Macrophylla King) in the Nursery

Bayezid Mahmud Khan
Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Chittagong, Chittagong-4331, Bangladesh.

M. Kamal Hossain
Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Chittagong, Chittagong-4331, Bangladesh.

M. Amin Uddin Mridha
Department of Botany, University of Chittagong, Chittagong 4331, Bangladesh.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Effective microorganisms (EM) was applied to find out their impact on the growth and development of Mahagoni (Swietenia macrophylla King) seedlings grown in the nursery of the Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Chittagong. The seedlings were grown in a mixture of sandy soils and cowdung (3: 1) kept in polybags. The EM solution at different concentrations (0.1, 0.5, 1,2,5 and 10%) was incorporated before and after a week of sowing the seeds. Germination as well as physical growth parameters, e.g. shoot and root length, vigour index, collar diameter, leaf number, fresh and dry weight of shoot and root and total biomass increment over control were measured. The chemical parameters, like chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoid of leaf influenced by EM, were also estimated. Both germination and the measured physical growth parameters were found significantly (P<0.05) higher in seedlings treated with different concentrations of EM solution in comparison to control. Maximum growth was observed at 2% followed by 1% concentration of EM solution. Although there was a higher amount of pigments in leaves of the treated seedlings then the control but the variation recorded with respect to chlorophyll a, b and carotenoid were not significantly higher in most of the treatments. Treated seedlings showed variable results along with the increment of EM applications and most of the parameters showed best results at the medium range of concentrations. The study indicates that the EM technology might be useful to improve the growth of seedlings in the nursery. These also indicate that the associated beneficial organisms along with the polybag soils might be of value in improving the degraded soil or poor field soil for better nutrient and water uptake during the initial growth of transplanted seedlings.

Keywords: Effective microorganisms, Germination, Mahagoni, Seedling growth.

Location: Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Chittagong.

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Pest Management

Commodity: Mehogani

Objectives:

1. To observe the effectiveness of EM on germination and the growth of S. macrophylla seedling and also

2. To find out the best concentration of EM solution for ensuring maximum seedling development in the nursery.

Methodology:

The experiment was carried out in the nursery of the Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Chittagong, Chittagong, Bangladesh (910 50' E latitude and 22⁰ 30' N longitude). The seeds of S. macrophylla, used in this experiment were collected from the Seed Orchard Division of Bangladesh Forest Research Institute (BFRI). The soils, collected from the degraded hills of the University Campus was sieved well (<3mm) and mixed with decomposed cowdung in a ratio of 3:1. The brown hill soils are sandy loam to sandy clay loam, moderately to strongly acid and poorly fertile with pH<5.5; Organic matter <2.0%; CEC <10 me/ 100g; BSP <40%. Polybags of 15cm x 10cm (6"x 4") in size were filled with the prepared mixture and a layer of coir (1 crn) was provided in each of the polybags as a top layer of the polybag media to reduce the evaporation and to supply a source of organic matter. There were seven treatments including control and 3 replications for each treatment while in a replication there were 20 polybags. Seed sown at polybag not added with EM but water only for control and seed sown at polybag soil added with 0.1 %, 0.5%, 1 %, 2%, 5% and 10% concentrations of EM solution. Fifty-ml solution of EM was mixed with the soils before one week of sowing the seeds and another 50 ml was applied after one week of sowing the seed in each of the polybag. Three seeds were sown in an individual polybag to observe the influence of EM on germination and after completing germination only one seedling per polybag was maintained to observe the status of physical and chemical growth parameters of seedlings. Partial shade and covering was provided over the nursery to protect the seedling from strong sunlight and rains. Germination was recorded daily from the date of seed-sowing and continued up to germination of the last seed. The seedlings were allowed to grow altogether for three months from the time of seed-sowing. After three months, five representative-seedlings from each replication of a treatment were selected for measuring physical parameters. The recorded parameters were, shoot and root length, collar diameter, leaf number, fresh shoot and root weight, dry shoot and root weight etc. For recording dry weight, shoots and roots were oven dried at 70°C until the constant weight was obtained. Other than the above parameters, some parameters such as vigour index, total dry biomass increment (%) etc, were also calculated. The pigment contents (Chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoid) of the fresh leaves of seedlings of different treatments were determined with the leaves collected from the second, third and fourth from the top. Ten leaf dises were cut with a cork borer (inside diameter 5mm), weighed immediately after cutting and dipped in 5 ml 100% acetone in test tube with stopper. After 24 hours of incubation, the supernatant coloured solution from the top was decanted carefully in 25ml volumetric flask. The leaf dises were then crushed with a blunt glass rod gently and 5ml fresh acetone was added to the test tube and left for 15 minutes. Then the supernatant solution from the top was again decanted to the same volumetric flask very carefully, avoiding the fragmented plant tissues. The process was repeated until the leaf fragments became colourless. Finally, the volume was made up to 25 mI with fresh acetone and measurement was taken immediately after the preparation of solution. The measurement of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoid were made at 662 nm, 644 nm and 440.5 nm respectively, with a spectrophotometer.

Source of Information: JOURNAL OF FORESTRY & ENVIRONMENT 3:29 - 35, 2005

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

From the present study it can be said that the low concentration of EM solution (2%) may be used for getting maximum seed germination and seedling development of S. macrophylla, which may influence its better growth and production in the field. However, further application of EM on other species may be applied to confirm the beneficial effects on germination and seedling development in the nursery.

Knowledge Management: Journal