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Proceedings of the International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 2024, 14(3): 115-128
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Article

Improving eggplant growth and development by using beneficial microbes in organic fertilizers: Exploring the bioremediating effects of microbes in laundry waste

Jomar L. Aban1, Analyn V. Sagun2, Jenilyn A. Asirot3
1College of Education, Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University, Bacnotan La Union, Philippines
2College of Agriculture, Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University, Bacnotan, La Union, Philippines
3College of Arts and Sciences, Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University, Bacnotan La Union, Philippines

Received 11 May 2024;Accepted 15 June 2024;Published online 20 June 2024;Published 1 September 2024
IAEES

Abstract
The growing global population put a lot of pressure to the agricultural industry. Farmers are obligated to use more chemical fertilizers to increase crop production. Consequently, the use of these synthetic fertilizers pose danger in the natural ecosystem flows. The use of organic fertilizer is promising because it reduces the risks of disrupting the natural balance and diversity of soil microbes. However, the production may consequently be reduced because organic fertilizers hold fewer essential macronutrients needed by plants. This present study presents the use of organic fertilizers with beneficial microorganisms as an alternative way to be utilized by farmers and crop growers. The beneficial microbes (BMs) present in these organic fertilizers are expected to help eggplants grow better even when laundry waste is utilized to water them. Through an experimental setup, eggplant seedlings were grown in pots using a randomized complete block design. The eggplants were watered with different levels of laundry waste as they grow in soils amended with organic fertilizer inoculated with beneficial microorganisms. At maturity, the number of branches, SPAD-based leaf nitrogen estimation, and height at flowering were determined. Eggplants grown in soils amended with BM-inoculated organic fertilizers have greater number of branches, significantly higher nitrogen content, and were the tallest plants in their flowering stage. The bigger breakthrough is the comparable growth of laundry-waste watered experimental pots compared to the growth of eggplants watered with tap water, when both treatment groups were amended with BM-bioactivated organic fertilizers. This is indicative of the bioremediating effect of the BMs in organic fertilizer where they potentially transform futile laundry waste to forms releases macronutrients making these nutrients readily available to eggplants.

Keywords beneficial microbes;bioremediation;laundry waste utilization;indiscriminate fertilizer use;organic eggplant production.


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