Biofertilizer Group Newsletter (FNCA)

Biofertilizer Group Newsletter

FNCA Forum for Nuclear Cooperation in Asia
The Asian region is one of the regions, which enjoys the highest economic growth rates in the world. To sustain such growth in the face of limited resources and the need to protect and preserve the environment, the region can benefit from effective utilization of nuclear science and technology.

Issue No. 7 February 2007 1.7MB by the Philippines

Topics:

-Messages from the Philippines

-FNCA 2005 Biofertilizer Workshop

-Biofertilizer studies conducted by PNRI under FNCA framework

-Researches on BIOFERTILIZERS in the Bureau of Soils & Water Management, Department of Agriculture

-BIOTECH Fertilizers: the approach to improve crop productivity and quality

-VITAL NR: A Revolutionary Biofertilizer Technology with a Fast-growing Market

-Project Leader of the Philippines

Biological nitrogen fixers

The use of microorganisms to harness elemental nitrogen through nitrogen fixation is one of the promising alternative technologies to address the high cost of chemical nitrogen fertilizers and the increasing environmental problems attributed to their use. These microbes, known as biological nitrogen fixers (BNF), can
directly fix nitrogen gas from the atmosphere to make it usable by the plants. An example of this microorganism is the rhizobia, which reside inside the nodules of leguminous plants. The mixture of rhizobia, sterile soil and charcoal led to the development of an inoculant known as NitroPlus. It is a biofertilizer specific for soybean, mungbean,cowpea, peanut, garden pea, pole sitao and other food legumes. NitroPlus comes in powder form in 100-gram packet which is used to coat seeds before sowing. One hectare requires 4-5 packets which is a lot cheaper than 2-3 bags of ammonium sulfate. Field trials done in collaboration with various agencies showed an increase in soybean yield by 124%, mungbean by 29% and peanut by 39%. It was also found to replace 30-50% of the nitrogen requirements of plants and has a fertilizing value equal to 30 kg N/ha. Presently, NitroPlus is being tested on non-legumes.