The effectiveness of endo-rhizo bacterial isolated from areca nut rizosphere (Areca cathecu L.) in breaking dormancy and improvement of seed vigor

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of endophytic and rhizobacteria (endorhizo bacterial) isolates in breaking dormancy while increasing its viability and vigor. The research was carried out at the Agronomy Unit of Agrotechnology Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Halu Oleo University from February to October 2020. This study used a divided plot design in a completely randomized design (CRD). The main plot, namely seed scarification, consisted of 2 treatments, namely without scarification and scarification. Subplots, namely the application of bacterial endo-rhizo isolates using seed biomatriconditioning techniques, consisted of 6 treatments, namely control, L1-R, M5-R, LA6-R, LA2-E, and RJ6-R. The treatment was repeated 3 times so that there were 36 experimental units. The observed data were analyzed using analysis of variance followed by the Duncan Multiple Range Test at α = 0.05. The results showed that The scarification treatment had no effect on the dormancy of areca nut seeds, while the bacterial endo-rhizo treatment had a very significant effect on breaking dormancy and germination of areca nut seeds in all observed variables. There were 2 bacterial endo-rhizo isolates that were better able to break dormancy and increase the germination of areca nuts compared to the control and other isolates, namely isolates L1-R and LA6-R. The 2 isolates were able to reduce dormancy of areca nuts by 36% and 14%, respectively, while the increase in germination reached 136% and 104% respectively compared to the control.