Effect of phosphate solubilizing bio-inoculants and vermicompost application on mineral uptake and growth of coffee (Coffea arbica L.) seedlings under greenhouse condition

Abstract

Arabica coffee (Coffea Arabica L.) is an economically important crop with the highest export revenue in Ethiopia. This study was designed to evaluate the bacterial and fungal phosphate solublization efficacy and to determine yield attributes of coffee seedlings under glasshouse conditions. The study was conducted at Jimma Agricultural Research Center.  The experiment was done with completely randomized design (crd) in three (3) replications. Three potent bacterial isolates viz., rchvcb_1, RScB1.19 and RMaB2.11 and three potent fungal isolates viz., rscf1.19 rlvcf2 and rchvcf2 were obtained from Jimma University, Veterinary Medicine, Microbiology Laboratory. The three bacterial isolates were tested for antimicrobial resistance pattern and for their potential to serve as bio-control agents. All the bacterial isolates showed 100% resistance to all the six antimicrobials tested. The growth of pathogenic Fusarium xyloriodes was slightly inhibited by rscf1.19. Single inoculation of rscf1.19+Phosphate  fertilizer and dual inoculation of rscf1.19 and rchvcb₁ with P fertilizer significantly (p<0.05)  increased plant height, root length, stem girth, leaf number, leaf area, fresh and dry weights of coffee seedlings. However, all the treatments combined with vermicompost showed suppressive characteristics with no   seedlings emergency at all. rscf1.19 and rchvcb₁ can be recommended as bio-fertilizers after conducting necessary field trials in order to    reduce the cost required for chemical fertilizers.