The Effect of Azotobacter Chrococcum as Nitrogen Biofertilizer on the Growth and Yield of Cucumis Sativus

Abstract

Biofertilizer has been identified as an alternative to chemical fertilizer to increase soil fertility and crop production in sustainable farming. The use of biofertilizer is steadily increased in agriculture and offers an attractive way to replace chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and supplements. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of Azotobacter chroococcum as nitrogen-biofertilizer on growth and yield of Cucumis sativus (cucumber) under greenhouse conditions. The study was done by planting 210 cucumber seeds distributed into seven treatments which were used in our study as follows: control (without treatment), biofertilizer only, organic fertilizer only, chemical fertilizer only, organic fertilizer + biofertilizer, 20% chemical fertilizer + biofertilizer, and biofertilizer, (two dose). After 3 months and through cucumber growth criteria, (shoot length, root length, shoot wet and dry weight, root wet and dry weight, number of leaves, number of branches), yield parameters, mineral content (N%) of cucumber were measured. In the green house experiment, growth parameters of cucumber showed that the productivity of cucumber increased. Seed inoculation with A. chroococcum increased yield about 6%, compared to control. The increase of biofertilizer treated plants in dry root weight were 31%, 18% in wet root weight, 11% in dry whole plant weight, 13% in wet whole plant weight, 14% in whole plant length, 10% in number of branches, 27% in number of leaves over control. The increase in shoot nitrogen percentage was 15% in biofertilizer treated plants, where it was 40% in biofertilizer + 20% chemical over control. The increase in root nitrogen percentage was 18% in biofertilizer treated plants, where it was 22% in biofertilizer + 20% chemical over control. Our results provided a proof of the efficiency of Azotobacter chroococcum as an important biofertilizer in yield of Cucumis sativus (cucumber).