Aims: Food security and safety are current issues around the world. Rice is a staple food for a large portion of the world’s population, and in Malaysia around 2.2 million tonnes of rice were consumed annually. Fertilizer input is the key to increase rice production. Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear Malaysia) has developed multifunctional biofertilizer products in an effort to reduce dependency on chemical fertilizers for crop production. Methodology and results: Multifunctional biofertilizer products contain indigenous microorganisms that have desired characteristics, which include plant growth promoting, phosphate solubilising, potassium solubilising and enhancing N2- fixing activity were used in this study. These products were formulated as liquid inoculants, which is suitable for rice production. A greenhouse trial was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of multifunctional biofertilizer on rice. Multifunctional biofertilizer products were applied singly and in combination with rock phosphate, feldspar and irradiated oligochitosan from a project by Forum for Nuclear Cooperation in Asia (FNCA), Japan. Plants that were given chemical fertilizers and plants not receiving fertilizer or biofertilizer products were used as controls. Fresh and dry weights of rice seedlings were determined. Application of multifunctional biofertilizer combined with irradiated oligochitosan (T3) resulted in significantly higher fresh weights (97.12 g) and dry weights (84.16 g) as compared to non-treated plants (77.39 g fresh weights and 69.56 g dry weights). The results suggested that application of multifunctional biofertilizer in combination with irradiated oligochitosan could increase rice growth. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: Combination of biofertilizer with oligochitosan increased rice growth in greenhouse trial. Further investigation of this interaction phenomenon should be carried out.
Crop Production ; Oryza

Aim: Auxin, a phytohormone secreted by plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria is one of the direct mechanisms vital for plant growth promotion. A laboratory experiment was conducted to observe the effect of IAA-producing and non-IAA-producing diazotroph Bacillus cereus strains on early growth of shallot (Allium ascalonicum) and mustard (Brassica juncea) plants. Methodology and Results: Treatments evaluated were as follows: Control = uninoculated, no inoculation, UPMLH1 = IAA-producing B. cereus UPMLH1, and UPMLH24 = non-IAA-producing B. cereus UPMLH24. Inoculation with IAA-producing B. cereus UPMLH1 significantly increased shallot adventitious roots (root number and length) and shoot growth (19 to 54% increment). Inoculation of non-IAA-producing B. cereus UPMLH24 did not significantly improve growth of adventitious roots of shallot as compared to uninoculated control, except its shoot (up to 40% increase). However, primary roots and shoot growth of mustard plants significantly increased through inoculation with IAA-producing and non-IAA-producing strains (14 to 73% increment). Conclusion, Significance and Impact of Study: The results indicated that exogenous IAA secreted by B. cereus UPMLH1 might have play an important role in inducing roots of shallot bulbs and it may have a variable promotional effect depending on plant species.