Algal biofertilizer for sustainable agriculture
1997
Visuttipat, R. | Sinsawat, S. | Sassanarakkit, S. | Antarikanonda, P.(Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, Bangkok (Thailand))
Rising costs of energy and, in turn, chemical fertilizers have focused attention on biological sources of nitrogen, the element commonly most limiting for rice production, especially in marginal rice production areas. For paddy rice, one of the important biological sources of combined nitrogen is N2-fixing blue-green algae. Thai Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR) has successfuly found the practical application of Algal Biofertilizer for increasing productivity in agriculture. Algal inoculum with highly effective N2-fixing species, rapid growth and highly environmental stress resistance has been long-term studied on pot and field experiments, and also on fields of rice farmers. The results positively reveal that the algalization of paddy fields increases rice yields by about 15-20 percent. The large-scale applications of algal biofertilizer in the projects concerning the soil and fertilizer policy of the government during 1992-1996, also show that rice yields can be incresed by 10-20 percent. It is also known that algalization not only increases rice yields but also improves physical properties and organic matter of the soil. At present, training courses for transferring algalization technology to rice farmers are currently being offered. Algal Biofertilizer is now proved to be a useful tool for increasing productivity of rice production in sustainable agricultural system.
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