The Potency of Endophytic Bacteria to Support The Growth of Water Spinach (<i>Ipomoea Reptans</i>): An Effort Towards Sustainable Agriculture

Endophytic bacteria generally have a crucial role to enhance the plant’s growth. Potential endophytic bacteria which yielding IAA hormones have been isolated. However, their benefit to promote the water spinach’s growth was never done. This study aimed to assess the influence of inoculating endophytic bacterial isolates K10 and K111, derived from the roots of klutuk banana ( Musa balbisiana ), on the growth of water spinach ( Ipomoea reptans ) seedlings. This was experimental study with two treatments of endophytic bacteria on five growth parameters and repeated five times in each treatment. The seeds’ surface of water spinach was sterilized using 70% ethanol and 1% of NaOCl then soaked in the sterile water. Then the wet seeds were grown on the sterilized paper for 48 hours. The root of spinach seedling was soaked in the bacterial inoculum then the seedling was grown on the sterile soil medium. The growth parameters were measured on 21 days after planting (dap). The data were analysed using the students’ t-test at a significance level of 5%. The result found that two out of five growth parameters which were root count and fresh weight indicated significantly different effects compared to the control at 21 dap. This experiment provided preliminary data on the advantageous endophytic bacteria that enhance plant growth and support sustainable agriculture.