Bio Fertilizer

Prospects and Problems of Biofertilizer in Agriculture of Bangladesh Md. Atikur Rahman

Abstract: Organic farming and use of bio fertilizers are becoming more popular worldwide. Bio fertilizers not only help in maintaining of soil fertility but also preserve ecological balance. Whereas in Bangladesh not only farmers but also researchers are still in dark. Most of them are not aware of its benefits and lack knowledge ‘how to use’. Lack of awareness and governmental help are the main constrains. Most of the governmental institution and NGOs don’t give emphasis on its use and production. Key word: Biofertilizer, soil fertility.

INTRODUCTION After the introduction of chemical fertilizers in the last century, farmers were happy of getting increased yield in agriculture in the beginning. But slowly chemical fertilizers started displaying their ill-effects such as leaching out, and polluting water basins, destroying micro-organisms and friendly insects, making the crop more susceptible to the attack of diseases, reducing the soil fertility, destroying soil composition, spoiling the soil properties, osmotic pressure, pH, conductivity and water holding capacity and thus causing irreparable damage to the overall system. A number of intellectuals throughout the world started working on the alternatives and found that bio fertilizers can help in increasing the yield without causing the damage associated with chemical fertilizers. Bangladesh is far away from industrial production of bio fertilizers and its uses. And there no arranged information of how much approaches has been done. So in this paper work my attempt was to collect information about the present status of bio fertilizer in Bangladesh.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Biofertilizer The name itself is self explanatory. The fertilizers are used to improve the fertility of the land using biological wastes, hence the term bio fertilizers, and biological wastes do not contain any chemicals which are detrimental to the living soil. They are extremely beneficial in enriching the soil with those micro-organisms, which produce organic nutrients for the soil and help combat diseases. The farm produce does not contain traces of hazardous and poisonous materials. Thus

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those products are accepted across the world as Organic ones. Hence for organic farming the use of bio fertilizers is mandatory. Biofertilizers are  microbial products containing living cells of different types of micro organisms  Possess the innate ability either to fix or mobilize important nutrient elements from nonusable forms through biological process.  needed to be applied to soil to enhance microbial activity in the rhizosphere  playing a significant role in integrated plant nutrient systems (IPNS)

Benefits of Biofertilizers      

Increase crop yield by 20-30%. Replace chemical nitrogen and phosphorus by 25%. Stimulate plant growth. Activate the soil biologically. Restore natural soil fertility. Provide protection against drought and some soil borne diseases.

Types of Biofertilizers Physically biofertilizers are of two types such as  Solid (where carrier is in solid form)  Liquid (in this carrier is in liquid form) But depending on the purpose of use these are of following types1. Phosphorus solublizer: It releases insoluble phosphorus in soil and fix this phosphorus in clay minerals which is of great significance in agriculture. It solublizes and makes available about 30kgP/ha/annum. a. Phosphatika for all crops to be applied with Rhizobium, Azotobacter, Azospirillum and Acetobacter 2. Nitrogen fixer: Atmosphere contains 78% nitrogen which is a very important nutrient for plant growth. It fixes the atmospheric nitrogen in the soil and makes it available to the plants. It protects the roots from other pathogens present in the soil has ability to fix 2540 kg N/ha/year. a. Rhizobium for legume crops. b. Azotobacter/Azospirillum for non legume crops. c. Acetobacter for sugarcane only. d. Blue –Green Algae (BGA) and Azolla for low land paddy. 3. Trichoderma: It is a non- pathogenic and eco-friendly product. The product is antagonistic hyper parasitic against different pathogens in the field and economically well established biocontrol agent 4. Composter: (Decomposing Culture): Composter breaks down any organic matter such as dead plants farm yard waste, cattle waste etc. thereby increasing the soil productivity. a. Cellulolytic fungal culture b. Phosphotika and Azotobacter culture

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5. Tricho-Card: Trichogramma is an efficient destroyer of eggs of many leaf and flower eaters, stems, fruit, shoot borers etc. It can be used in a variety of crops as well as in horticultural and ornamental plants, such as sugarcane, cotton, brinjal, tomato, corn, jawar, vegetables, citrus, paddy apple etc. 6. Vermi Compost: It is 100% pure eco-friendly organic fertilizer. This organic fertilizer has nitrogen phosphorus, potassium, organic carbon, sulphur, hormones, vitamins, enzymes and antibiotics which help to improve the quality and quantity of yield. It is observed that due to continuous misuse of chemical fertilizer soil losses its fertility and gets salty day by day. To overcome such problems natural farming is the only remedy and Vermi compost is the best solution. 7. Biocompost: It is eco-friendly organic fertilizer which is prepared from the sugar industry waste material which is decomposed and enriched of with various plants and human friendly bacteria and fungi. Biocompost consists of nitrogen, phosphate solublizing bacteria and various useful fungi like decomposing fungi, trichoderma viridea which protects the plants from various soils borne disease and also help to increase soil fertility which results to a good quality product to the farmers.

Application of biofertilizers 1. Seed treatment: 200 g of nitrogenous biofertilizer and 200 g of Phosphotika are suspended in 300-400 ml of water and mixed thoroughly. Ten kg seeds are treated with this paste and dried in shade. The treated seeds have to be sown as soon as possible. 2. Seedling root dip: For rice crop, a bed is made in the field and filled with water. Recommended bio fertilizers are mixed in this water and the roots of seedlings are dipped for 8-10 hrs. 3. Soil treatment: 4 kg each of the recommended biofertilizers are mixed in 200 kg of compost and kept overnight. This mixture is incorporated in the soil at the time of sowing or planting. Different biofertilizers and their dosesBiofertilizers

Function/ Limitation Recommended Contribution Dose / ha AZATOBACTER 20 – 25 kg N / ha Demands high organic 2 kg / ha (Non-symbiotic) matter AZOSPIRILLUM 10 – 15 % No limitation 2 kg /ha (Associative) increase yield. Production of growth promoting substance BLUEGREEN 20 – 30 kg N /ha Effective only in 10 – 15 kg/ha ALGAE or 10 – 15 % submergence rice and CYANOBACTERIA increase in yield. demands bright (Phototropic) Production of sunshine growth

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AZOLLA (Symbiotic)

PHOSPHO BACTERIA

promoting substance 30 – 100 kg N/ha Survival difficult at 10 tons/ha , Yield increases high temperatures, 20 – 25 % great demand for phosphorus and used in flooded rice Contributes to 2 kg/ha solubility of tricalcium, aluminum and iron phosphates making the phosphorus present in the soil available to plants.

Bangladesh in aspect of Biofertilizer There are more possibilities to expand the production and use of biofertilizers commercially in Bangladesh. Researches have not done so much. In Bangladesh only BINA produces some biofertilizers. Biofertilizers developed by BINA are cheap and easy to handle. All these inoculants are environment friendly and can be used as substitutes of nitrogen fertilizer. The country's legume production can be increased substantially by application of the inoculants, which will be helpful in removing the malnutrition problem of the country. Moreover, it improves the soil health. A brief description of these inoculants is given below: 1. BINA-LT-18: This Rhizobium inoculant has been developed for lentil cultivation. Application of this inoculant can increase 15-40% seed yield of lentil compared to the control. 2. BINA-CP-2: This Mesorhizobium inoculant is recommended for chickpea cultivation. It can substantially increase 25-30% seed yield of this crop. 3. BINA-MB-1: This Bradyrhizobium inoculant has been developed for mungbean cultivation. Application of this inoculant can increase 18-30% seed yield of this crop. 4. BINA-COP-7: This inoculant was developed for cowpea cultivation, which has the potential to increase seed yield 25-45% of cowpea. 5. BINA-GN-2: This inoculant has been developed and recommended for groundnut cultivation. It can increase 20-40% seed yield of groundnut. 6. BINA-SB-4: This is one of the most promising Bradyrhizobium inoculants for soybean cultivation. Farmers can obtain 75-150% more seed yield by applying this inoculant. 7. BINA-DC-9: The inoculant is recommended for dhaincha cultivation, which can increase seed yield 25-50%] of this crop.

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Large-scale production (2.5 m tons/year) of Rhizobium or Bradyrhizobium inoculants has been successful at BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF NUCLEAR AGRICULTURE, Mymemsingh. About 1.5 to 2.0 kg inoculant/ha used with seeds may result increased production of pulses by 20 to 40%. Average Azolla production in a pond could be up to one m ton/ha/day, following the method developed at Botany Department, Dhaka University. It could also be grown along with irrigated rice crop. One cover of Azolla is about 10 m tons/ha and incorporation of two such covers could reduce urea-N fertilizer by about 50%. Azolla could also be made into compost and addition of about 10 m tons could supplement all fertilizers by about 50%.

Problems of using biofertilizer    

It is bulky in size It required much attention during using and production as microorganisms need optimum environment for their growth. It must be used in large scale Chemical fertilizers are to be applied along with biofertilizers.

Probable reasons of less response from biofertilizer in Bangladesh 1. On account of quality of product o Use of ineffective strain. o Insufficient population of microorganisms. o High level of contaminants. 2. On account of inadequate storage facilities o May have been exposed to high temperature. o May have been stored in hostile conditions. 3. On account of usage o Not used by recommended method in appropriate doses. o Poor quality adhesive. o Used with strong doses of plant protection chemicals. 4. On account of soil and environment o High soil temperature or low soil moisture. o Acidity or alkalinity in soil. o Poor availability of phosphorous and molybdenum. o Presence of high native population or presence of bacteriophages.

MATERIALS AND METHOD This is a review paper. All the information and observation were collected from secondary source. This assignment has been compiled through reading different relevant text books, journals, and websites from internet along with the class notes and discussions from honorable course instructor.

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RESULT AND DISCUSSION From above discussion it is clear that Bangladesh has to go far and fast to boost up biofertilizer use in agriculture. To make the use of biofertilizer convenient following measures can be under taken by agricultural institute and government Increasing production commercially and making available to the farmer.  Growing public awareness about its benefit by advertising in mass media.  Training the farmers about its use and small scale production.  Giving permission to private sector for production.  Using conscience while working in rural areas with rural households.  Promoting different proven technologies for resource poor & resource rich farmers.  Sharing only that part of knowledge which can make a dent on the rural livelihood under a specific situation.  Developing a close linkage with the people and not imposing any thing which is not time –tested. Moreover one should follow some precautions before and during using biofertilizers in order to avoid yield loss  Biofertilizer packets need to be stored in cool and dry place away from direct sunlight and heat.  Right combinations of biofertilizers have to be used.  As Rhizobium is crop specific, one should use for the specified crop only.  Other chemicals should not be mixed with the biofertilizers.  While purchasing one should ensure that each packet is provided with necessary information like name of the product, name of the crop for which intended, name and address of the manufacturer, date of manufacture, date of expiry, batch number and instructions for use.  The packet has to be used before its expiry, only for the specified crop and by the recommended method of application.  Biofertilizers are live product and require care in the storage  Both nitrogenous and phosphatic biofertilizers are to be used to get the best results.  It is important to use biofertilizers along with chemical fertilizers and organic manures. Biofertilizers are not replacement of fertilizers but can supplement plant nutrient requirements.

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CONCLUSION Increasing demand of chemical fertilizers especially nitrogenous fertilizer for rice cultivation reduces the soil fertility and makes soil more vulnerable for degradation and erosion. Whereas biofertilizers are not only restore soil health but also preserve soil fertility. It can be produced personally one can make it in his homestead not waiting for fertilizers from dealer as it is common in Bangladesh in supplying fertilizers to delay and unavailable. Only awareness in farmer level can reduce the dependence on chemical fertilizers and can save foreign currency which need to expense during buying of fertilizer from outside.

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REFERENCE 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

www.wikipedia.org/ Banglapedia www.biofertilizer.com http://youthfantacy.blogspot.com/2008/09/bio-fertilizer.html http://www.ikisan.com/links/up_riceBiofertilizers.shtml#top www.bina.gov.bd/

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