Effect of Mycorrhizae, Azotobacter and Vermicompost tea on Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium (NPK) Concentrations in Soil and Cucumber Plants ( Cucumis sativus)

Abstract

An experiment was carried out inside a greenhouse (sandy loam soil) at the College of Agriculture / University of Anbar to investigate the effect of Vesicular-Arbuscular Mycorrhizaee, Azotobacterchroococcum and Vermicompost tea on the concentration of NPK macronutrients in soil and cucumber plants. A factorial experiment consisting of two factors was designed for this purpose: the first factor is a combination of mycorrhizae (M) with 35 g plant-1, azotobacter (A) bacteria 16 ml plant-1 with a microbial density of 2.2 x 109 cfu ml-1 and phosphate Rock (R) with 40 g plant-1, added with half of the mineral fertilizer recommendation each individually with its interactions, The second factor is the addition of three concentrations (0, 5, 10%) of vermicompost tea sprayed on the plant. The experiment was designed with a completely randomized block design (RCBD) with three replications. Cucumber seeds were planted on 15/9/2022 and service operations were conducted for the crop and the experiment continued until 15/12/2022. Concentrations of nutrients were measured in the soil after harvesting the crop as well as in the leaves of the plant. The results of the research proved that the use of mycorrhizae, azotobacter bacteria and phosphate Rock with half the mineral recommendation (MAR) and spraying vermicompost tea at a concentration of 10% are the best in increasing the concentration of nutrients in the soil and plant and revealed significant differences compared to mycorrhizae or azotobacter or vermicompost tea individually, so this treatment gave the highest concentration of available nitrogen (AN) (56.37 mg kg-1 soil), the highest available phosphorus (AP) (16.34 mg kg-1 soil), the highest available potassium (230.3 mg kg-1 soil), and gave the highest percentage of nitrogen in the leaves (NIL) (2.80%), The highest percentage of phosphorus in the leaves (PIL) (0.40%), the highest potassium in the leaves (KL) (1.95%), followed by the treatment of adding mycorrhizae with phosphate Rock and half the mineral recommendation (MR) with vermicompost tea at a concentration of 10%, then the treatment of adding mycorrhizae with azotobacter bacteria with half the mineral recommendation (AR) with 10% of vermicompost tea, then the treatment of mycorrhizae with phosphate Rock plus half the fertilizer recommendation (MR) with 10% of vermicompost tea, then the treatment of mycorrhizae with azotobacter plus half of the fertilizer recommendation (MA) with 10% of vermicombe tea. Then the two treatments of mycorrhizae (M) and azotobacter (A) separately, while finally came the treatment of chemical fertilization (S), which gave the lowest values to the mentioned properties in the soil and plants.