| Abstrakt: |
Pepper is one of the plantation products with high economic value. Cultivation businesses are generally carried out independently by the community using conventional methods. The limited availability of subsidized fertilizers is one of the obstacles faced by farmers, while the price of non-subsidized fertilizers is quite high. This is certainly a burden for farmers considering pepper is a type of plant that requires large amounts of nutrients. The utilization of soil microorganism services as biofertilizers is an alternative to replace the use of inorganic fertilizers. The purpose of this study was to identify the types of beneficial soil microbes in the roots of pepper plants, especially non-symbiotic nitrogen fixing bacteria and phosphate solubilizing bacteria, as well as phosphate solubilizing fungi. The isolation of bacteria was carried out by the spread method on agar media, while the isolation of fungi was carried out by the pour method. The density of microorganisms was calculated by the Total Plate Count (TPC) method. Total soil microorganisms were quite low, i.e., 8.8 × 105 - 3.1 × 107 colonies/gram of soil. Bacterial characterization was carried out by observing the macroscopic morphology of the colonies, Gram staining and endospores, and catalase and motility tests. Fungal characterization was carried out by observing macroscopic and microscopic morphology, which included hyphae, spore-producing, and spore-forming. Exploration of potential soil microorganisms carried out on pepper rhizosphere resulted in 3 groups of potential microorganisms, namely nitrogen-fixing bacteria, phosphate solubilizing bacteria and phosphate solubilizing fungi. The types of nitrogen-fixing bacteria obtained were from the genera Rhizobium, Bradyrhizobium, Acetobacter, Azotobacter, Azospirillum, and Clostridium. Phosphate solubilizing bacteria obtained were Azotobacter, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, and Thiobacillus. In contrast, the types of phosphate solubilizing fungi that have been isolated are Penicillum, Aspergillus, and Trichoderma. All isolates have the potential to be used as biofertilizers, but further tests are needed to determine which isolates have the best ability to provide optimal effects on plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
