Abstract
Microbial fertilizer has been used to prompt turfgrass growth and quality and to prevent turfgrass diseases in turfgrass management of golf courses. This study was conducted to evaluate effects of microbial fertilizer containing Lactobacillus fermentum (MFcL) on changes of turfgrass quality and growth by investigating turf color index, chlorophyll index, clipping yield, and nutrient content in the turfgrass tissue. Treatments were designed as follows; non-fertilizer (NF), control fertilizer (CF), MFcL treatments [CF+1.0 g m-2 (MFL), CF+2.0 g m-2 (2MFL)], and only MFcL treatment (OMF; 1.0 g m-2 MFL). Chemical properties of soil by application of MFcL was unaffected. Turf color index, chlorophyll index, clipping yield and nutrient content and uptake of MFcL treatments were similar to CF. Furthermore, turfgrass shoot density of MFL was increased by 20% than that of CF, and that of OMF by 22% than NF. These results show that the application of microbial fertilizer containing L. fermentum increased turfgrass shoot density, which is not attributed to nutrient uptake in this study, but needs to be further investigated with other mechanisms such as biostimulant induction or phytohormone production.
Figures & Tables
The turfgrass shoot density of creeping bentgrass in the experiment. Turfgrass shoot density was investigated on September 15 in 2010.