WO2008120968A1

WO2008120968A1 - A plant root system improving composition

Info

Publication number: WO2008120968A1
Application number: PCT/MY2007/000065
Authority: WO
Inventors: Norhayati Md Taib; Faridah Bakar
Original assignee: Malaysian Agri Hi-Tech Sdn Bhd
Priority date: 2007-04-03
Filing date: 2007-09-20
Publication date: 2008-10-09
Also published as: MY145060A

Abstract

A plant root improving composition comprises carriers selected from the group consisting of soil, vermiculite, perlite, sterile sand, artificial pumice, sterile organic media or any combination derives thereof; and spores of endomycorrhizal fungus.

Description

A PLANT ROOT SYSTEM IMPROVING COMPOSITION

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a composition which is capable to improve root system of a plant when this composition is applied accordingly. In more particular, the composition employs carriers to bring mycorrhizal fungus into contact with the plant root system, hence infect the plant root system thus lead to improvement in development of the root system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Undisturbed soils are full of beneficial soil organisms including mycorrhizal fungus. Research has indicated that various common practices lead to degradation of the mycorrhiza forming potential and natural population in the soil. Tillage, fertilization, removal of top soil, erosion, site preparation, road and building construction, fumigation, invasion of non-native plants are some representative examples that may cause soil barren and elimination of the beneficial soil fungus. Many routine nursery practices such as fumigation and dousing with high level of fertilizer enable non-mycorrhiza plants to thrive on the artificial growing media. However, these plants will not able to survive in a long period due to the eventual deteriorating soil condition.

Therefore, interventions which can solve the abovementioned problems once and for all are urgently needed. Of all the available methods, introducing or re-introducing mycorrhizal fungus to the targeted plant root system is known to be one of the best approaches thus far known that can dramatically improve plant establishment and growth. As in filed patent application JP9255462, a soil improving composition containing endomycorrhizal fungus and water purification cake is claimed to be used for tree planting without leaching the fertilizers carried by the composition. US patent no. 2004208852 also claims a method and a system that capable to colonize a plant with ectomycoirhizal fungus thus lead to better establishment of the plants. JP9020891 is another patent application filed on a soil conditioning composition comprises porous ceramic granular with attached soil microbes in the granular which is able to improve 5 plant establishment once applied. Still another Japanese patent no. 7075445 claims for a manufacturing method on a preparation containing endomycorrhizal fungus in a culture medium with porous support. US patent no. 4551165 has claimed a composition with mixture of endomycorrhizal fungus, peat, a binder and seed of at least one plant. Most of the abovementioned patent applications are anticipated to have short shelf life as the 10 composition prepared mainly in the form of living mycorrhizal fungus instead of using viable spores. On the other hand, the carrier or medium used to bring the mycorrhiza fungus into contact with the plant root physically are mainly porous support such as ceramic and zeolite that are more costly if compared to using soil only.

15 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention aims to provide a composition for improving plant establishment and growth which is inexpensive in contrast to other available composition. Moreover, this present invention is expected to have extended shelf-life owing to the materials used for preparing the composition. 20

Further object of the present invention is directed to the capability of the disclosed composition in improving the plant's ability in nutrient uptake by infecting the plant roots with mycorrhizal fungus which lead to increased roots surface area of absorption as production of filaments derives from the mycorrhizal fungus.

_^_»

Another object of the present invention is to retain the availability of nutrients in the soil by having the colonized mycorrhizal fungus forming an intricate web to capture the nutrients. The present invention also aims to improve the soil porosity. The organic glue produced by the mycorrhizal fungus in the infected root bits added into the disclosed composition, bind soil into aggregates thus improve soil porosity thereof.

Yet further object may involve infecting the plant with mycorrhizal fungus hence increases the production of phytoalexins to prevent attack of pathogen.

At least one of the above objects is fulfilled partially or wholly in the present invention with the embodiment of a plant root improving composition comprises carriers selected from a group consisting of soil, vermiculite, perlite, sterile organic media or any combination derives thereof; and spores of endomycorrhizal fungus.

Another embodiment of the disclosed composition is preferably containing endomycorrhizas infected root bits and/or a growth enhancer. The endomycorrhizal fungus infected root bits is preferably to have a infection establishment of 60% to 80%, while the growth enhancer is free glutamic acids and/or gamma aminobutyric acids (GABA).

In order to perform the stated advantages in the present invention, the endomycorrhizal fungus may be any one or combination of the genus of Glomus, Gigaspora, Acaulospora, and Scutellospora. In the most preferred embodiment, the composition may include 9 species of the endomycorrhizal fungus from the above-mentioned four genuses.

The disclosed composition may be accustomed by the request of the users to artificially adding chemical nutrients selected from a group consisting of sodium, potassium, phosphorus, or any combination derives thereof to improve the effect of the disclosed composition. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 illustrates the proper way to apply the present invention in the single stage nursery condition;

Figure 2 illustrates the proper way to apply the present invention in the process of transplanting; and

Figure 3 illustrates the proper way to apply present invention in a planting hole.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The term "carrier" used herein throughout of the disclosure refers to a medium used to transfer the artificially prepared endomycorrhizal fungus infective agent to the target plant. The carrier can be biologically inert in terms of not bringing any deteriorating effect to the host plant or the infective agent, or more preferably able to promote the infectious rate of the endomycorrhizal fungus from the infective agent such as spores, inoculums, or the living endomycorrhizal fungus to a target plant being brought into contact with the host plant. Ideally, the carrier is capable of providing an environment that favors the storing of the infective agent which led to extended shelf-life of the product.

The present invention is a composition which is able to improve plant root system comprises carriers selected from a group consisting of soil, vermiculite, perlite, sterile sand, artificial pumice, sterile organic media or any combination derives thereof; and viable spores of endomycorrhizal fungus. In the preferred embodiment, sterile sand is

into contact with the root system of the target plant. Owing to its availability and physical characteristic, sterile sand is found to be one of the acceptable carriers for the present invention rendering lower costing to the produced composition and being convenience to be applied to the target plant. It is important to be noted that different species of endomycorrhizal fungus have their respective unique habitat characterize by the types of soil, acidity or humidity of the soil and so on.

The disclosed composition can be accustomed into other embodiment where it is suitable to be applied in places where the water content around the target plant is low. Sterile sand replacement with ability to withhold high water content is more preferable. Under such circumstance, the carrier used can be, but not limited to, vermiculite, artificial pumice, perlite instead of soil because of the ability of vermiculite and perlite in retaining high water content. On the other hand, organic media containing natural nutrients is another alternative to replace soil if the lands where the target plants grow are barren of nutrients.

Examples of organic media are rice husk or decanter powder..

Pursuant the object of the present invention to have the target plant establishes quickly and healthy, the infective agents are preferably able to infect the target plant root as efficient as possible. It is found by the inventors of the present invention, root bits infected by living endomycorrhizal fungus are capable to increase the infectious rate of the target plant tremendously. One skilled in the art shall appreciate the fact that the viable spores of endomycorrhizal fungus require sufficient time to fully develop into the beneficial endomycorrhizal fungus form at the root site of the target plant. Therefore, it is crucial to have an element in the disclosed composition that can act fast and instant once the composition being applied to the target plant to provide therein an immediate effect, and living endomycorrhizal fungus is most likely to be the ideal candidate for such purpose. But sustainability of the living endomycorrhizal fungus in the carrier posts a major challenge in carrying out such practice; living endomycorrhizal fungus can not last long in a carrier if not being attached to the root system of a host plant. Thus, the disclosed composition in the present invention utilizes root bits as the carrier for hosting living endomycorrhizal fungus without using any chemical compounds or substances as the carriers. Moreover, utilizing root bits renders the produced composition more affordable in opposed to other chemically prepared carriers. To achieve the optimum effect, the infected root bits used is preferred to have a infection establishment of 60% to

80%.

Additionally, further embodiment of the present invention includes inoculate of phosphate solubilizing microbes selected from the genus of Ps eudomonas spp., Bacillus spp., Rhizobium spp., Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp., and Entrobacter spp. Numerous researches have shown that phosphate solubilizing microbes not only increase plant absorption on phospharized nutrients but also promote root growth in the host plants. In the most preferred embodiment, but not limited to, Penicillium oxalium, Aspergillus niger, Bacillus subtilis and mixtures thereof are added into the disclosed composition to carry out the desired effect. Preferably, one ton of the disclosed composition contains about 0.5 to 2 liters of solvent containing the phosphate solubilizing bacteria, and each liter of the solvent has a concentration of phosphate solubilizing microbes ranges from 0.5 X 10⁷ to 2.5 X 10⁷ colonies forming unit per ml.

Optionally, a growth enhancer may be included in the disclosed composition to thrive the target plant further. The plant growth enhancer is known to increase nutrient uptake in the applied plants compared to those non-administered plants. Preferably, the growth enhancer is processed free glutamic acids and/or gamma aminobutyric acids (GABA).

In accordance to the foregoing description, the types and species of the endomycorrhizas fungus available in a soil sample is geographically specific. It is important to apply the appropriate types of endomycorrhizal fungus in the disclosed composition so that the living endomycorrhizas and/or viable spores in the composition is compatible to the environment where the composition to be applied. In the preferred embodiment, the viable spores of the endomycorrhizas fungus and/or the infected root bits with the endomycorrhizas fungus are derived from the genus of Glomus. Gigaspora. Acaulospora, Scutellospora or any combination derives thereof. In the most preferred embodiment, there are at least 9 different species of endomycorrhizas fungus added into the disclosed composition from these four stated genus. The types of species in the composition is crucial in order to have the different types of endomycorrhizas fungus species hosted harmony at the root site of the target plant and thus promote the beneficial effect to the host plant. It is likely to have the different species of endomycorrhizas fungus compete for survival at the root of the target plants if the combination of the inoculum is not appropriately prepared, and subsequently providing no or less benefits to the target plants.

Attaining to the object of infecting the target plant with endomycorrhizas thus lead to optimum nutrient uptake, the disclosed composition is preferably to have the spores of endomycorrhizas fungus ranged from 200 to 250 units per 10 grams of the composition.

The availability of the spores in the composition is verified by the spore count techniques during the preparation of the disclosed composition. Further embodiment of the present invention may involve artificially added chemical nutrients selected from a group consisting of sodium, potassium, phosphorus, or any combination derives thereof into the disclosed composition. Such practices aim to boast up the plant establishment in a short time especially the target plant which suffered from post-transplanting shock.

The inventors of the present invention found that the disclosed composition is capable to avoid, prevent or alleviate the Ganoderma infection in the host plant especially in oil palm. This phenomenon can be attributed to the influence of endomycorrhizas fungus in inducing phytoalexins production in the infected plants, increased calcium production in the infected plant which enhance the cell wall thickness thus stop the successive pathogen attack, or the presence of the endomycorrhizas fungus in the infected plant may outlive the pathogens in the competition for survival in the host plant. Even in host plant with severe Ganoderma infection, applying the disclosed composition to the host plant can significantly remedy the condition. Nevertheless, application of the disclosed composition may involve in other plants cultivation, but not limited to, oil palm, rubber, sugarcane, cocoa, jatropha and kenaf. It is to be understood that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms and is not limited to the sole embodiment described above. However modification and equivalents of the disclosed concepts such as those which readily occur to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the claims which are appended thereto.

Example 1

(a) A comparative trial between a 50Og, 70Og and control of the application of the disclosed composition on Palm Oil yield was conducted. The application of the disclosed composition was completed on a newly replanted area during the year of 2000. The first harvesting practiced was on May 2002 whereas the first data was collected. To date the palm oil was recorded as 4 years old. However, the scouting harvest data is not included. A total of 21 rows consist of 96 (24 palms x 4 rows) palm oil trees were established in each sub-plot.

However, only a total of 42 palm trees were used as a sample or 14 palm trees for 3 treatments applied. Data collection on frond count, bunch count and bunch weight (kg) is monthly conducted. Since May 2000, up to 32 sampling was carried out. Bunch weight data was collected based on the total average of 14 oil palms in each subplot by using the following formula.

Average Bunch Weight (kg) in Sub plot = Weight (fruit bunch for 14 pals)

14 palms

The collected data was analyzed by using the ANOVA (Analysis of Varian) with accepted significant level of P<0.05 or 95% data persistence

In the experiments which the disclosed composition applied, the experimental results had shown a significant positive effect on the yearly ABW collected data in each palm. Preliminary summary result on the experiment is found in Table 1. The significant different between each experiment for each plot was noted at the level of 0.05 (significant) and 0.01 (highly significant). During the early stage of oil palm, the ABW was noted at the significant level and up to 2004 was noted as highly significant. However, during the year of 2005 there are no significant different of ABW between each plot. Further investigation on the 2005 collected data, thus found that a thorough review on the month of May 2005 up to Dec 2005 is needed to complete the analysis.

Year Treatment ± SE

50O g ± SE 750 g ± SE CONTROL ± SE

2002 3.8 ± 0.2 * 4 .3 ± 0.4 * 3.9 ± 0.3 *

2003 4.3 ± 0.1 * 4 .2 ± 0.1 * 4.3 ± 0.1 *

2004 6.7 ± 0.2 ** 6 .8 ± 0.2 ** 6.7 ± 0.2 **

2005 10.2 ± 0.6 8 .7 ± 0.6 9.4 ± 0.5

* - p < 0.05, ** - p < 0.01

Table 1

A comparative study on applied and non-applied of present invention revealed that there are an increased of ABW noted at the 0.2 % to 9.4 % (Table 2). However, the flows of ABW for each treatment is not consistence thus suggest that it may reflect on the effect of the other biotic factor such as rainfall and relative humidity which has not been looked into extensively.

Year 500 g MYCOgold 750 MYCOgold

2002 -2.0 9.4

2003 0.2 -4.0

2004 0.7 1.5

2005 8.3 -7.1

Table 2 (b) A comparative trial between a 50Og, 750g and control of the application of the present invention on a newly cleared forested land or new transplanted area of Palm Oil is still conducted. The application of the present invention on 12 months age of newly transplanted seedling was completed on January 2004.

A total of 6 rows consist of 126 (21 palms x 6 rows) palm oil trees were established in each sub-plot. However, only a total of 42 palm trees are used as sample or 14 palm trees for 3 treatments applied. Data collection on frond count, bunch count and bunch weight (kg) is conducted monthly. On the early stage, only frond count data was collected. The first data on frond count was collected on April 2004 and up to 6 sampling were carried out until Oct 2005.

Treatment with 500 and 750 g of the present invention showed significant increment in the number of frond count at p < 0.05. After 7 month of observation, the highest frond count was recorded on plot treated with 750g of the present invention. The mean of total frond count was recorded as 18.8, 19.2 and 18.2 respectively on treatment 50Og, 750g and control.

Palm no Treatment (500 g) Treatment (75Og) Control

RpA RpB RpA RpB RpC RpA RpB RpC

Pl 19 19 15 16 15 14 20 18 17

P2 18 20 21 22 15 19 17 18 18

P3 18 21 20 22 18 19 17 19 17

P4 18 20 20 21 19 19 18 17 19

P5 19 20 17 18 19 20 17 19 19

P6 20 20 20 17 22 19 19 16 18

P7 17 18 22 18 23 21 20 19 19

P8 16 20 18 19 18 21 19 15 21

P9 19 19 18 19 18 21 18 19 19

PlO 19 19 19 21 18 20 17 20 16

PIl 20 18 19 20 21 18 17 20 17

P12 20 18 19 19 21 18 18 18 17

P13 20 20 17 19 20 20 18 20 18

P14 19 16 18 18 21 20 17 21 18

Table 3

Oil palm applied with 75Og of the present invention was found to have a more frond after 7 month of application. The record found that a total frond was count as 5 % and 4 % more compared to the non-applied (Table 3).

The preliminary results for both experiments suggest that the application of the present invention can significantly increase the palm oil yield and frond count in the early stages of transplanting. In early stage, records show the yield will be increased after application

750 g of the present invention up to 9.4 % compared to those non-applied oil palms. As time passed or after 4 years of application, however, it was noted that application 50Og of the present invention will increase yield up to 8.3 % compared to those non-applied. The effect on application of the present invention, however, can be observed and significantly show the differences after the 7^th month applied. Thus, this may be used as an indicator to look over the preliminary successful result on the effect of using the present invention.

Example 2 hi the continued search for a self-sustaining method for managing Ganoderma infection in oil palm, the opportunity was taken of the commercial availability of a formulation of a mixture of soil incorporated mycelium, roots and spores of vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Draz-M), to test its ability to mitigate if not control Ganoderma infection. VAM are a group of obligate symbiotic fungi, important genus being Glomus, Gigaspora, Acaulospora and Sclerocystis. These fungi have been reported to confer benefits of increased moisture and nutrient uptake, and reduction of infection or effects of root diseases to their associated plants.

The VAM formulation was tested in 25 year-old palms that were experiencing only foliar symptoms (moderate) and both foliar symptoms and Ganoderma fructifications(severe)infection. Three replicates of 15 palms were used for each category. A single application of 4kg of the VAM formulation was raked into a 30cm band in a ring following the edge of a circle of Im radius from the center of the bole of a palm. Treatments were compared to an untreated control for each palm category. Responses to treatments were monitored with monthly scoring of foliar and fructification symptoms and yield recording with every harvesting round.

No clear trends could be perceived in terms of foliar symptoms and severity of Ganoderma attack between the treatment and control palms for up to 500 days from commencement of trial (DFCT). However in the moderately infected palms for the same period of recording, 6.7 per cent of control palms died from Ganoderma infection compared to none in the treatment palms. In contrast, 60 per cent of severely infected palms succumbed with treatment as compared to 40 per cent in the control. This suggests that the VAM treatment could only make difference in terms of reducing mortality of palms when administered at the early or intermediate stages of infection.

Yield records at 500 DFCT showed 50 and 1 per cent increase in cumulative yield of a treated moderately and severely infected palm respectively in terms of the original stand of palms {Table 3). When considered in terms of existing palms only (i.e. discounting palms that have died from Ganoderma infection), VAM treatment brought about 42 and 68 per cent increase in cumulative yield in a moderately and severely infected palm. Zakaria et al. (1996) reported evidence of VAM increasing yield of healthy oil palm and the same mechanism is expected to be at play here. As cost of the VAM treatment came to RM 20 per palm, the value of the increased yield at 500 DFCT (approximately 16.5 months) can only consistently cover this cost when VAM is applied to moderately infected palms. This corresponded with the inability of the treatment in reversing the deleterious effects of severely Ganoderma infected oil palm. This is also indicates that VAM could perhaps be better used as a prophylactant than for therapy. This is being investigated. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the use of VAM fungi is to date the nearest commercially available non-chemical treatment that has prospect of providing self- sustaining mitigation of the effects of Ganoderma infection. The use of this treatment in conjunction with other useful cultural practices like soil mounding merits further investigation. Cumulative yield/palm

Moderate Severe

Category Control Treatment % Control Control Treatment % Control

Original stand 215.54 326.93 (152) 129.70 130.40 (101)

Existing stand 230.94 326.93 (142) 194.55 326.00 (168)

Table 4

Ho and Teh (1997a) pointed out that although the plantation industry in Malaysia has a very strong integrated pest management (IPM) culture, not all of the non-chemical components of IPM are fully realized at the operational level and time is required to fully develop them, In the interim, use of pesticides are often important if not a primary means of controlling pests and diseases in plantation crops. The fore-mentioned examples nevertheless indicate that with some innovation and determination, relatively simple practices can be used to good effect to bridge this gap. Continued researches along such lines are expected to continuously add to the non-chemical arsenal for pests and diseases control. By using the present invention, realization of truly integrated environmentally- friendly and self-sustaining pests and diseases management systems in plantation crops could be nearer at hand than is generally perceived.

Treatment Stand of palms Yield (kg/palm) Yield/palm (as % of control)

No of No of No of palms Based on Based on Based on Based on original toppled at end of original standing original standing palms palms peπod of stand palms stand palms recordmg

24 months

Mounding 58 1 57 388 0 392 1 133 107 only

Surgery + 58 4 54 364 8 379 5 125 104

Mounding

Fumigation -r 58 1 57 405 4 409 7 139 112

Mounding

Control - 58 20 38 291 9 365 2 100 100 untreated

36 months

Mounding 58 8 50 552 2 582 6 158 104 only

Surgery + 58 10 48 513 4 559 7 147 99

Mounding

Fumigation + 58 4 54 588 7 606 6 168 108

Mounding

Control - 58 41 17 349 8 562 8 100 100 untreated

Table 5

Treatment Yield (MT) Extra yield over control Value * (RM) Treatment exist

(MT) (RM)

Per Remaining Per Remaining Pa- Remaining Per 58 palm stand palm stand palm stand palm palms

24 months 0 3921 22 35 0 0269 8 47 6 31 1986 22 12 86 745 88

Mounding only 0 3795 20 49 0 0143 6 61 3 35 1550 05 13 61 789 38

Surgery + 0 4097 23 35 0 0445 9 47 10 44 2220 72 17 1 1 992 38

Mounding

Fumigation + 0 3652 13 88 - - - . 0 00 0 00

Mounding

Control - untreated

36 months

Mounding only 0 5826 29 13 0 0198 19 56 4 64 4586 82 12 86 745 88

Surgery + 0 5597 26 87 -0 0031 17 30 -0 73 4056 85 13 61 789 38

Mounding

Fumigation -^ 0 6066 32 76 0 0438 23 19 10 37 5438 06 17 1 1 992 38

Mounding

Control - 0 5628 9 57 - - 0 00 0 00 untreated

Table 6

Claims

Claims:

1. A plant root improving composition comprises:

(a) carriers selected from the group consisting of soil, vermiculite, perlite, sterile sand, artificial pumice, sterile organic media or any combination derives thereof; and

(b) spores of endomycorrhizal fungus.

2. A composition according to claim 1, further comprising endomycorrhizas infected root bits.

3. A composition according to claims 1 and 2, further comprising phosphate solubilizing microbe.

4. A composition according to claims 1 to 3, further comprising a growth enhancer.

5. A composition according to claims 1 to 4, wherein said endomychoπihizas is any one or combination of the genus of Glomus, Gigaspora, Acaulospora, and Scutellospcra.

6. A composition according to claims 1 to 4; wherein said spores of endomycorrhizas are 200 to 250 units per 10 grams of the composition.

7. A composition according to claims 2 to 4, wherein said endomycorrhizas infected root bits have 60% to 80% of infection establishment.

8. A composition according to claims 3 to 4, wherein said phosphate solubilizing microbe is any one or combination of P enicillium oxalium, Aspergillus niger, and Bacillus subtiϊs.

9. A composition according to claim 4, wherein said growth enhancer is free glutamic acids and/or gamma aminobutyric acids (GABA).

10. A composition according to claims 1 to 3, further comprising the manually added chemical nutrients selected from a group consisting of sodium, potassium, phosphorus, or any combination derives thereof.