Anuar Abdul Rahim

Physiological and Growth Responses of Six Turfgrass Species Relative to Salinity Tolerance

The demand for salinity-tolerant turfgrasses is increasing due to augmented use of effluent or low-quality water (sea water) for turf irrigation and the growing turfgrass industry in coastal areas. Experimental plants, grown in plastic pots filled with a mixture of river sand and KOSASR peat (9 : 1), were irrigated with sea water at different dilutions imparting salinity levels of 0, 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, or 48 dS m−1. Salinity tolerance was evaluated on the basis of leaf firing, shoot and root growth reduction, proline content, and relative water content. Paspalum vaginatum was found to be most salt tolerant followed by Zoysia japonica and Zoysia matrella, while Digitaria didactyla, Cynodon dactylon “Tifdwarf,” and Cynodon dactylon “Satiri” were moderately tolerant. The results indicate the importance of turfgrass varietal selection for saline environments.

Inoculation of Bacillus sphaericus UPMB-10 to young oil palm and measurement of its uptake of fixed nitrogen using the 15N isotope dilution technique.

There are increasing applications of diazotrophic rhizobacteria in the sustainable agriculture system. A field experiment on young immature oil palm was conducted to quantify the uptake of N derived from N2 fixation by the diazotroph Bacillus sphaericus strain UPMB-10, using the 15N isotope dilution method. Eight months after 15N application, young immature oil palms that received 67% of standard N fertilizer application together with B. sphaericus inoculation had significantly lower 15N enrichment than uninoculated palms that received similar N fertilizers. The dilution of labeled N served as a marker for the occurrence of biological N2 fixation. The proportion of N uptake that was derived from the atmosphere was estimated as 63% on the whole plant basis. The inoculation process increased the N and dry matter yields of the palm leaflets and rachis significantly. Field planting of young, immature oil palm in soil inoculated with B. sphaericus UPMB-10 might mitigate inorganic fertilizer-N application through supplementation by biological nitrogen fixation. This could be a new and important source of nitrogen biofertilizer in the early phase of oil palm cultivation in the field.

Germination at low osmotic potential as a selection criteria for drought stress tolerance in sweet corn

Water stress can affect germination by decreasing the percentage of germination. A study was undertaken to evaluate the influence of different osmotic potentials (MPa) on proline content and percentage seed germination of corn. The experiment was conducted in factorial with a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Seeds of two open pollinated varieties (Masmadu and Thai super sweet) and three hybrids (968, 969 and 926) sweet corn were germinated at 0, -0.2, -0.5, -0.7, -1.2 and -1.4 MPa osmotic potentials, respectively. Results show that the percentage of germination and coefficient of velocity (CVG) decreased with decrease in osmotic potential while proline content and mean germination time (MGT) increased. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) increased root length (RL) and length per volume (LPV) at low osmotic potential (-0.2 MPa) but decreased at more than -0.7 MPa. Seedling proline content appears not to be related to percentage germination but appears to be related to the decline in osmotic potential in germination media. Seed germination test at -0.7 to -1.2 MPa has the potential to be used as a vigor test in sweet corn. Keywords: Osmotic potential, germination, polyethylene glycol, corn, proline content African Journal of Biotechnology , Vol. 13(2), pp. 294-300, 8 January, 2014