TITLE:
Phytotoxicity Assessment of Biofertilizer Produced from Bioreactor Composting Technology Using Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) Seeds
AUTHORS:
Eva R. Orlina, Neil Angelo D. Besana, Gene T. Señeris, Kathleen C. Capiña
KEYWORDS:
Biofertilizer, Bioreactor, Germination, Lettuce, And Phytotoxicity
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Ecology,
Vol.13 No.5,
May
16,
2023
ABSTRACT: Establishing reliable technological information on the safety of biofertilizers produced from a bioreactor composting technique is a must prior to its commercialization. A phytotoxicity study of biofertilizer made from the bioreactor composting technology at Aklan State University, Banga, Aklan, Philippines was conducted for fourteen (14) days using commercially available lettuce seeds (Lactuca sativa L.). Standard phytotoxicity attributes such as hypocotyl length, radicle length, relative germination percentage, and relative radicle growth observed during the germination stage were evaluated. Results revealed no significant difference in the radicle lengths of the germinated lettuce seeds as affected by the varying levels of biofertilizer dilution at H(3) = 10.567, p = 0.061 > 0.05. On the other hand, the hypocotyl length of the lettuce showed significant differences in response to varying levels of biofertilizer dilution with Welch’s F(5, 5.163) = 8.175, p = 0.017