Abou-El-Hassan S., M.A.A. Abdrabbo and A.H.Desoky( 2014). Enhancing Organic Production Of Cucumber By Using Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria And Compost Tea Under Sandy Soil ConditionResearch Journal of Agriculture and Biological Sciences, 10(2): 162-169, 2014
ISSN 1816-1561
Abstract: In organic farming, compost is the main sources of fertilizer. Compost is commonly applied at one time before planting and this led to the available nutrients from compost is inadequate for crop requirements. Thus, most of organic crops need some additions that help to improve the growth and production during the growing season. Therefore, an experiment was conducted in the experimental farm of Arid Land Agricultural Research and Service Center (ALARC), Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Egypt to study the ability of enhancing organic production of cucumber by using plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (mixture of Azotobacter chroococcum, Azospirillium brasilense, Pseudomonas fluorecense and Serratia sp.) and compost tea under sandy soil condition. The cucumber seeds (Prince F1) were set up in sandy soil during 2012 and 2013 seasons. The rates of compost (75, 100 and 125% as recommended dose of nitrogen) with and without addition of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) or compost tea were investigated on growth, yield and mineral composition of cucumber plants comparing to recommended dose of NPK as mineral fertilizer (control). Nitrate and heavy metal content in cucumber fruits were determined; also nitrogenase activity in rhizosphere zone was determined. The results indicated that using 100% and 125% compost with addition of plant growth promoting rihzobacteria or compost tea increased significantly the vegetative growth, yield, nutritional content of cucumber plants and heavy metal content in fruits compared to recommended dose of mineral fertilizer treatment. All rates of compost with and without addition of PGPR or compost tea reduced nitrate content in cucumber fruits.
Keywords: (Cucumber, Organic production, Compost, Compost tea, Microbial inoculation, Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR).)
