The effects of microbial enhancement on the decomposition of rice straw

Fazlyzan, A.*¹, Syuhaidah, A.B.¹, Mohammad Hariz, A.R.,¹, Aimi Athirah, A.², Tosiah, S.³, Nurul Ain, A.B.¹, Mohd Zafrul Arif, R.³, Nur Alyani, S.¹ and Norfarhah, A.R.⁴

Abstract
Rice straw is one of the coproducts generated from rice cultivation. It is managed via on-farm open burning or soil integration during the wet season. However, the straw may not decay completely and hence, not well integrated into the soil. It may eventually affect soil properties during cultivation. The use of microorganisms has been documented to resolve this problem and reduce open field burning. In this study, three treatments were performed to accelerate the decomposition of rice straw. T1 was set as the experimental control with no added microbes, T2 incorporated with Trichoderma sp. and T3 involved cellulose degrading bacteria. Rice straw samples were collected weekly for eight weeks for physicochemical, microbiological and sugar-reducing analyses. The results indicated positive trends of C/N ratio reduction for rice straw inoculated with microbes in both seasons. The percentage of moisture content increased, but electrical conductivity declined over the period. Bacterial and fungal growth initially increased and then plateaued after day 14 in season 2. Therefore, rice straw inoculated with Trichoderma sp. and cellulose degrader could improve soil organic properties and expedite rice straw decomposition.

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