I Ketut Widnyana

By I Ketut Widnyana

There are microbes that are beneficial to plants. Among these, rhizobacteria, which functions as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) such as Pseudomonas spp. and Bacillus sp., can serve as fertilizer. These organisms have proven to accelerate germination and improve the yield of tomato plants. Colonization of rhizosphere by PGPR results in acceleration of plant growth and protection against plant pathogens. Soaking tomato seeds with Pseudomonas spp. and Bacillus sp. suspension accelerated germination by 2–3 days than the control without immersion with both bacteria. Soaking tomato seeds for 10–30 min in the suspension of Pseudomonas spp. yielded the same effect in tomato germination. Soaking in Bacillus sp. tends to cause faster growth as compared to immersion in Pseudomonas spp. suspension. Mixing these two bacterial suspensions had no significant effect in accelerating the germination of tomato seeds. Soaking tomato seeds for 20 min with a suspension of Pseudomonas spp. and Bacillus sp. at densities of 4 × 105 CFU and 8 × 105 CFU showed significant differences (p < 0.05) in plant height, leaf number, root length, number, and weight of tomato fruits. The highest fruit weight using Pseudomonas spp. and Bacillus sp. at 8 × 105 CFU was 491.7 g tomato plant−1 while the control average fruits weight was 100.0 g tomato plant−1.

Part of the book: Recent Advances in Tomato Breeding and Production