Potential of Bacillus toyonensis and Paenibacillus alvei as Plant Growth Promoter on Melon Manis Terengganu (MMT)

Cucumis melo var inodorus cv. Manis Terengganu is known as Terengganu’s iconic fruits. However, MMT production is still insufficient to satisfy local demand. Over-reliance on chemical fertilizers to MMT has reduced soil fertility, degraded soil quality resistance, and negatively affected the environment. As a result, efficient microorganisms such as Paenibacillus alvei and Bacillus toyonensis were investigated as possible ecologically compatible biofertilisers for MMT. In this study, B. toyonensis and P. alvei produced indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) at concentrations of 20.49 µg.mL-1 and 19.18 µg.mL-1, respectively. hen, the greenhouse testing was conducted to evaluate the potentiality of effective microbes as plant growth promoter rhizobacteria by introducing the soil with B. toyonensis, P. alvei, and consortium. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three groups of bacteria plus the control and each treatment replicated 15 times. Data were analyzed according to ANOVA procedure. As a result, B. toyonensis, P. alvei, and consortium significantly increased in all experimental growth parameters such as plant height, leaves, chlorophyll content, root mass, root length, leaf area, fruit weight, macronutrients, and micronutrients compared to control. Overall, the results showed that the effective single microbial strains promoted the development of MMT more effectively than the consortium