Rice, the main staple food for about half of the world’s population, has had the growth of its production stagnate in the last two decades. One of the ways to further improve rice production is to enhance the associations between rice plants and the microbiome that exists around, on, and inside the plant. This article reviews recent developments in understanding how microorganisms exert positive influences on plant growth, production, and health, focusing particularly on rice. A variety of microbial species and taxa reside in the rhizosphere and the phyllosphere of plants and also have multiple roles as symbiotic endophytes while living within plant tissues and even cells. They alter the morphology of host plants, enhance their growth, health, and yield, and reduce their vulnerability to biotic and abiotic stresses. The findings of both agronomic and molecular analysis show ways in which microorganisms regulate the growth, physiological traits, and molecular signaling within rice plants. However, many significant scientific questions remain to be resolved. Advancements in high-throughput multi-omics technologies can be used to elucidate mechanisms involved in microbial–rice plant associations. Prospectively, the use of microbial inoculants and associated approaches offers some new, cost-effective, and more eco-friendly practices for increasing rice production.

The capability of endophytic Trichoderma spp. to reduce sheath blight disease in rice caused by Rhizoctonia solani was assessed under the growth conditions established by practices of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), compared to those of standard irrigated rice cultivation. Rice seeds inoculated with a local isolate of the fungus Trichoderma asperellum SL2 were grown under respective SRI and conventional conditions with the inoculated or uninoculated plants and then infected with the pathogen R. solani. It was seen that inoculation with this strain of Trichoderma protected rice plants against R. solani infection while enhancing plant growth, photosynthetic rate, and stomatal conductance. The biocontrol effectiveness of inoculation with a particular strain of Trichoderma was significantly greater under SRI management compared to conventional cultivation. This is the first report on how a crop management system, in this case, SRI, can influence the biocontrol effectiveness of Trichoderma spp.

Fathurrahman F, Mardaleni, Krisianto A. 2023. Title Effect of colchicine mutagen on phenotype and genotype of Vigna unguiculata var. Sesquipedalis the 7th generation. Biodiversitas 24: 1408-1416. The problem with long bean species is the low diversity of varieties, so obtaining them using chromosomal mutations was necessary. One of the ingredients used was colchicine. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the mutagen colchicine against mutations that occur in Vigna unguiculata var. sesquipedalis the 7th generation (renek long bean). The design used was a factorial Completely Randomized Design consisting of two factors. The first factor was four colchicine concentration levels: including without colchicine (the control) and colchicine concentration (0.01%, 0.05%, and 0.09%). The second factor was the soaking of the V. unguiculata var. sesquipedalis seeds, namely without soaking of seeds and soaking seeds (6, 12, 18, and 24 hours). Further phenotype analysis was tested statistically using the DMRT test at p < 0.05, while genotypes were analyzed using karyotypes and statistical T-test at p < 0.05. The results showed that treatment with 0.09% of colchicine and soaking for 24 hours was the best combination. Phenotype analysis showed increased growth with colchicine treatment: plant height increased by 20.59%, pod weight increased by 0.88%, the number of pods increased by 47.93%, pod length increased by 22.50%, and 100 seed weight increased by 15.91%. While Genotype analysis obtained a total of 11 karyotype chromosomes and 2n = 22 chromosomes. Chromosome karyotypes obtained two types, namely metacentric and telocentric. The arm length (p+q) in the 0.09% colchicine treatment sample and 24-hour soaking time was 1.77 µm longer than the control sample, which was 1.53 µm. It turns out that colchicine can increase the growth and changes in the structure of chromosomes so that a mutated V. unguiculata var. sesquipedalis species is obtained.

This study was conducted to determine the effects of CO2 concentration on the growth and physiology of rain tree (Albizia saman (Jacq.) Merr), by increasing the CO2 concentration in a greenhouse automated system. The objective of this study was to evaluate the response of rain tree to CO2 in...

Community service activities have been carried out in Dosan Village in Dosan Village, Pusako District, Siak Regency, where most of the people are farmers. Based on the results of an initial survey of several farmers and village officials who wanted to know information about making bokashi, it can be concluded that the people of Dosan Village deserve training on bokashi making techniques. The training was carried out with the aim of increasing the knowledge and skills of village communities in processing organic waste from household and agricultural waste. The service activities will be carried out for 6 months, starting from the preparation of the service team to partner locations to monitoring and evaluation and publication as a form of output from this service activity. Service activities are carried out using lecture and demonstration methods. The results of the service activities showed that there was an increase in partner participants' knowledge regarding bokashi fertilizer before and after the activity with percentage of 76 to 86%. The results of the paired t-test also show that there is a significant difference in the increase in farmers' knowledge before and after community service activities.