ISOLATION, IDENTIFICATION AND UTILIZATION OF INDIGENOUS ENDOMYCHOHIZAE AS BIO FERTILIZER IN SALAK PLANTATION

Balinese salak is the most popular fruit in Indonesia, even in the world.  However,  the condition is now worsening, not only can’t compete with imported fruits but also with the similar salak fruit from outside area of Indonesia such as salak Pondoh from Yogyakarta. Traditional ways of cultivation and limited use of production inputs cause soil fertility of salak plantations in Bali decrease over time so that the quantity, quality and continuity of production are low. This study aimed to find out indigenous endomychoriza on salak plantation as a biological fertilizer, a more environmental friendly-fertilizer which may solve the problem. Exploration was carried out by taking soil and root samples in four districts salak production center in Bali i.e. Bebandem and Selat District (Karangasem Regency),  Pupuan District (Tabanan Regency) and Payangan District (Gianyar Regency). Nine (9) points of samples were taken from each location and repeated 3 times. Samples consist of soil and roots which were taken from top soil layer (10-15 cm depth). A sample of 1-2 kg of soil was taken and put in to the 2 kg-size of plastic bag, while the root sample was taken by taking the 10 cm-length of root tip, wrapping with wet tissue and then put it in the cool box. Spore isolation was done at Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Molecular Biology, Udayana University, by using wet filtration technique according to Brunndret et al. (2009). The identification of morphological characters (spore shape, spore color, and spore arrangement) was done using Manual for The Identification of Mychoriza Fungi according to Schenk and Perez (1990), while molecular identification using random amplified polymorphic DNA marker (RAPD). Observation of root infection percentage was done by staining method using tryfan blue. The result showed it was found 2 genus of indigenous endomychoriza i.e. Glomus and Scutellospora with average number of 15.3 spores per sample site, while the average of root infection was 96.67%. The genus of glomus was found in all districts observation, while the Scutellospora was found only in Selat District. The morphology of Glomus varied from globos, subglobos, ovoid, and obovoid, the color of the spores also varied with brownish yellow, yellowish brown, light brown, or dark brown. While the spore of Scutellospora morphologically was a single spore, large, round or slightly rounded shape, globos, subglobos, ellipsoid, or irregular with yellow spore wall color until brownish, and has a germination shield located on the inner wall layer. The indigenous endomychoriza  had arbuscular hyphae, vesicular hyphae, chlamydospores, internal hyphae and external hyphae. The very high root infection (96.67%) described that adaptation of endomychoriza in salak plant is very high. The isolated spores are being propagated in corn plants with zeolite and quartz-sand media to obtain more spores for testing the effectiveness on growth of salak seedlings and then for making a biological fertilizer prototype.  Observations of molecular characters are also still being done.