Augmenting available soil nutrients

through the use of growth promoting

microbes in tobacco production

DADIRAI CHINAMO TOBACCO RESEARCH BOARD

KUTSAGA

CORESTA CONFERENCE 2019: VIC FALLS, ZIMBABWE, 13-17 OCTOBER

2019

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Introduction Materials and Methods Results Discussion Conclusion References Acknowledgements

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

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>78 000 small scale farmers (TIMB, 2018)

Lands ~5 ha

Arable < 2 ha

Agriculture as a livelihood

Pressure on land

Small scale production in Zim

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Pressure

on land

Decline in

soil quality

Soil

productivity

Low yield

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Overuse of

synthetic fertilisers

& pesticides

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What should a farmer do?

Rotations

Cover crops

Legumes

Fallow

Increase OM build up

Increase soil biodiversity

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Why soil biodiversity?

Micro-ogarnisms feed the soil

Soils are stressed

Beneficial bacteria declines

Good soil

108 to 109 cells/g of soil

Stressed

< 104 cells/g of soil

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As a response, the researchers

have come up with …

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..the concept of Bio-fertilisers

formulations of beneficial

microorganisms which activate the

availability of nutrients

plant growth promoting microbes

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Promote plant growth

Facilitate resource acquisition

Modulate plant hormone levels

Bio-control bacteria

Plant growth promoting microbes

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Evaluation of Micro-plus bio-fertiliser

in tobacco production

contains multiple friendly strains of

Bacillus

Enterobacter

Pseudomonas

Rhizobium

Trichoderma

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Micro-plus composition

Microbes Function

Bacillus subtilis - Produces plant hormones

- Solubilizes insoluble P

Enterobacter -Phosphate solubility,

- Production of phyto-hormones and

- Bio-active compounds

Pseudomonas Phosphate solubility

Rhizobium N-fixing bacteria

Trichoderma Bio-control agent

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To evaluate the effectiveness of a

biofertiliser (Micro-plus) in tobacco

production under reduced chemical

fertilisation

Objective

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Materials and Methods

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Kutsaga Research Station located 16

km to the South East of Harare

Between Longitude 310 13’ E, Latitude

170 91’ S

Altitude of 1 480 m

Granite sands

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RAINFALL PATTERN

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr

Ra

infa

ll (

mm

)

2016-2017

2015-2016

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5 treatments in 4 blocks (RCBD)

Treatments Nkg/ha

Pkg/ha

Kkg/ha

Standard (SFP) 95 150 120

100% SFP+ Micro-plus 95 150 120

50% SFP + Micro-plus 47.5 75 60

25% SFP + Micro-plus 23.75 37.5 30

Micro-plus alone 0 0 0

Design and treatments

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Standard programme

Standard programme N

kg/ha

P

kg/ha

K

kg/ha

S

kg/ha

Compound C – at

planting

50 150 120 75

Ammonium nitrate – 3 WAP

35 - - -

SOP – 3 WAP - - 50 50

Ammonium nitrate – 9

WAP

10 - - -

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APPLICATION METHOD

At planting At 4 WAP At 6 WAP

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MEASUREMENTS

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SOIL SAMPLES 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 WAP

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LEAF EXPANSION @ 12, 14 & 16 WAP

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ROOT & SHOOT BIOMASS @ 2, 4 & 6

WAP 2019

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YIELD AND GRADE INDEX

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RESULTS

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EFFECT OF MICRO-PLUS ON SOIL CATIONS

Calcium

Magnesium

Iron

Potassium

Manganese

Zinc

IMN

Copper

Sodium

p>0.05

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0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

2 WAP 4 WAP 6 WAP 8 WAP

Ph

osp

ho

rou

s µ

g/g

Standard

(SFP)

100% SFP+

Micro-plus

50% SFP+

Micro-plus

25% SFP +

Micro-plus

Negative

control

Year 1

F. prob 0.103 <.001 0.097 0.03

L.S.D. 40.19 36.66 68.24 71.91

EFFECT OF MICRO-PLUS ON AVAILABLE SOIL P

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

2 WAP 4 WAP 6 WAP 8 WAP

Ph

osp

ho

rou

s µ

g/g

Standard

(SFP)

100% SFP+

Micro-plus

50% SFP+

Micro-plus

25% SFP +

Micro-plus

Negative

control

Year 2

F. prob 0.782 0.482 0.554 0.259

L.S.D. 10.20 29.33 36.01 36.01

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EFFECT OF MICROPLUS ON

ROOT DRY MATTER

TreatmentYear 1

(weeks after planting)Year 2

(weeks after planting)

2 4 6 2 4 6

Standard (SFP) 0.17 0.36 1.56 0.59a 1.57 19.45

100% SFP+ Micro-plus 0.17 0.39 1.38 0.31c 1.31 14.48

50% SFP+ Micro-plus 0.14 0.34 1.30 0.4bc 1.07 13.4425% SFP + Micro-plus 0.13 0.38 1.27 0.54ab 1.25 15.43

Negative control 0.17 0.34 1.38 0.4bc 1.26 25.38

F-PROBABILITY 0.244 0.912 0.971 0.017 0.678 0.255

LSD 0.05 0.13 0.99 0.1659 0.721 12.22

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Treatment

Year 1(weeks after planting)

Year 2(weeks after planting)

2 4 6 2 4 6

SFP 0.54 1.68 13.31 2.69a 13.86 89.53a

100% SFP + Micro-plus 0.54 2.18 11.89 1.67b 11.18 76.53ab

50% SFP + Micro-plus 0.60 1.96 10.60 2.22ab 10.82 54.15ab25% SFP + Micro-plus 0.52 2.11 10.11 2.67a 11.61 69.2ab

Micro-plus alone 0.72 2.42 11.90 2.25ab 8.25 49.03b

F-PROBABILITY 0.271 0.482 0.947 0.017 0.712 0.120L.S.D. 0.21 0.87 9.26 0.5973 8.42 33.64

EFFECT OF MICROPLUS ON SHOOT DRY MATTER 20

19_A

P15

_Chi

nam

o.pd

fA

P20

19 -

Doc

umen

t not

pee

r-re

view

ed b

y C

OR

ES

TA

EFFECT OF MICROPLUS ON LEAF EXPANSION

a a ab b

a aab

bc

-5

5

15

25

35

45

55

Lea

f g

eo

me

an

Year 1 Year 2

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EFFECT OF MICRO-PLUS ON TOBACCO YIELD

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

Ma

ss a

t u

nty

ing

kg

/h

a

Year 1 Year 2

LSD= 505.1

Year 1 Year 2

LSD=505LSD= 590.2

Year 2Year 1

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

Sa

lea

ble

yie

ld k

g/h

a

Year 1 Year 2

LSD= 514.5LSD= 499.1

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EFFECT OF MICRO-PLUS ON

LEAF QUALITY

0102030405060708090

Gra

de

in

de

x Year 1 Year 2

LSD=6.275 LSD=6.294

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Cost benefit analysis…Year 1

Treatment Gross income

USD

Total cost

USD

Net income

USD

Standard (SFP) 6338.64 2400.15 3938.49

100% SFP+ Micro-plus 7164.045 2428.65 4735.395

50% SFP+ Micro-plus 6372.45 2146.9 4225.55

25% SFP + Micro-plus 5199.39 2017.9 3181.49

Microplus 3268.545 1888.9 1379.645

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Cost benefit analysis…Year 2

Treatment Gross income

USD

Total cost

USD

Net income

USD

Standard (SFP) 6794.68 3281.15 3513.53

100% SFP+ Micro-plus 7442.92 3309.65 4133.27

50% SFP+ Micro-plus 5989.56 2987.4 3002.16

25% SFP + Micro-plus 6221.18 2838.15 3383.03

Microplus 3115.4 2688.9 426.5

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Yield increase with the use of the bio-

fertiliser

Increased availability of phosphorous

…other unmeasured benefits

Bio-fertiliser benefits dependant on initial

soil status

DISCUSSION

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There is merit in using bio-fertilisers in

tobacco production

CONCLUSION

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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Thank you…

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