Modern agricultural practices involve the extensive use of chemical fertilisers to increase productivity. However less than half of the applied chemical fertiliser nitrogen is used by the target crops, and much of the remaining pollutes air and waterways. Farming systems that sustain productivity while reducing the negative effect on the environment are crucially needed. One avenue is to use plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) as bio-fertiliser to reduce the dependency on chemical fertiliser. The potential of PGPR to improve the efficiency of the combination of organic and chemical fertilisers has recently been proposed. Here, we demonstrate that this combination benefits sugarcane grown in field conditions.
We would like to thank Prof. Klanarong Sriroth and Dr Peeraya Klomsa-ard for discussion, Witoon Boonkerd and Anuwat Janlae for assistance with growing and maintaining plants in the glasshouse and the field. This research was funded by Cooperative Research Centres Projects Grant CRCPFIVE000015.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Cite this paper
Paungfoo-Lonhienne, C. Watanarojanaporn, N. and Jaemsaeng, R. (2020) Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria Enhance the Efficiency of the Combination of Organic and Chemical Fertilisers in Sugarcane. Open Journal of Ecology, 10, 440-444. https://doi.org/10.4236/oje.2020.107028
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