BETTY NATALIE FITRIATIN, FIQRIAH HANUM KHUMAIRAH, MIEKE ROCHIMI SETIAWATI, PUJAWATI SURYATMANA,REGINAWANTI HINDERSAH, ANNE NURBAITY, DIYAN HERDIYANTORO AND TUALAR SIMARMATA
Abstract
Salinity is one of the limiting factors for the growth of plants due to their sensitivity to high concentrations of salt in the soil. Indonesia has an extensive saline soil but has difficulties in agricultural utilization. One of the efforts to increase the productivity of saline soil is through the application of biofertilizer. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of biofertilizer for its phosphatase activity and to increase the growth of rice at different salinity levels in the soil. The experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions of Agriculture, Universitas Padjadjaran at Jatinangor, Sumedang, West Java, Indonesia. Experiment was laid out at a Randomized Complete Block Design with 8 treatments and four replications per treatment. The salinity levels tested were 0,2,4, and 6 mmhos cm-1. Our results showed that the application of biofertilizer at different salinity level influenced available soil P, phosphatase activity and growth of rice seedlings. Biofertilizer efficacy was much better at salinity level at 2 mmhos cm-1 on growth of rice seedlings.