EFFECT OF OIL PALM BUNCH ASH ON SOIL MICROBIAL DENSITY

Defruited oil palm bunch ash was used for treatment of garden soil with the aim of determining its effect on the soil microbial load. One thousand grams (1000g) of garden soil was weighed into sterile cellophane bags and treated with 10g, 20g, 30g, 40g, 50g, 60g, 70, 80g, 90g, and 100g of bunch ash representing 1.0% w/w, to 10.0% w/w concentrations of the treatment material in the soil samples respectively. The untreated soil with 0.0% w/w concentration of bunch ash served as the control. The experiment was carried out in three replicates and the set up was moistened daily for 21 days.  The results of the microbiological analysis of the soil samples showed that the untreated soil samples had mean bacterial load of 1.0 x 10 6 CFU/g, while the bacterial load of the treated soil samples ranged from 4.5 x 10 6 CFU/g to 2.2 x 10 6 CFU/g. The highest bacterial load of the soil was recorded with 9.0% w/w concentration of bunch ash. The fungal load of the treated soil ranged from 3.3 x 10 5 CFU/g to 2.0 x 10 5 CFU/g while the untreated sample had 1.6 x 10 5 CFU/g. The highest fungal load was recorded with 3.0% w/w concentration of the bunch ash. The results of this work show that oil palm bunch ash could serve as a useful amendment tool for increasing the microbial density of the soil and possibly enhance their activities.