Biofertilizer Production

The featured image for the website is ‘Farmer’s field Maharashtra, India‘ by Yogendra Joshi licensed under CC BY 2.0 

The featured image for the course Biofertilizer Production is  ‘Corn passage field’   by Johan Dahl licensed under Creative Commons CC0 

The purpose of this open educational resource (OER) is to provide learning related to environmentally safe and effective fertilizers. Repeated use of land for farming leads to depletion of nutrients. This can lead to a drop in crop productivity. Use of chemical fertilizers leads to pollution of the environment and a downward trend in soil health. Use of biofertilizers can address this problem and be a mainstay for sustainable agriculture. Hence, the need for resources related to the development and use of biofertilizers.

The objective of this  course is to support learners  achieve the following learning outcomes:

• • • • • understand and be able to define biofertilizers;
        • understand what types of microbes constitute potential biofertilizer candidates (nitrogen fixers, phosphate solubilizers, plant growth hormone producers, siderophore producers, symbionts, endophytes);
        • be able to isolate and purify such candidate microbes and understand how to test them for their potential;
        • be able to grow such candidate microbes  in larger volumes and develop them into biofertilizers using suitable carrier material;
        • be able to analyze factors affecting and conditions required for improvement of crop productivity viz. soil type, soil composition, climatic conditions, irrigation and fertilizer/ nutrient requirements;
        • understand the importance of and methodology for application of biofertilizers in the field to yield higher crop productivity in a sustainable manner.

Keywords describing the contents of the course:

Biofertilizer, nitrogen fixers, phosphate solubilizers, plant growth hormone producers, siderophore producers, symbionts, endophytes, OER, UN Sustainable Development Goals

Credit load: 2 credits

Duration of the course: It is estimated that participants will require 30 hours (i.e. 5 hours per week for a total of 6 weeks) to complete this course.

Target participants: students who have completed their high school studies (Grade XII) with biology; undergraduate students; teachers; farmers

Access to a Microbiology laboratory will be required for the project component of this course.

Study material: Reference material (text) , PPT, video lectures, links to relevant websites.

Methodology: Inquiry-based learning and project-based learning

Self assessment: can be done by taking the quizzes that are available after each lesson lesson on this WordPress website. Self assessment alone,  in this manner, will not lead to certification.

Formal assessment for certification is available on the Edmodo platform

To access the Edmodo platform:

Enter class code: x4egrd to join the class

If you are not already on the Edmodo platform, you will need to sign up by creating a login with your email id and password, once you are on the Edmodo website.

Details of assessment pattern are available on  Course Structure: Contents and Assessment Pattern

Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations targeted:

• • • Goal 1: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
    •  Goal 2: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
    •  Goal 3: Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.

Biofertilizer Production by Mrs. Sneha Ogale in partnership with Dr. Viviane Vladimirschi is licensed with a Creative Commons CC BY NC 4.0 International license. Educators and learners are welcome to download, adopt, adapt, and share the content as long as they provide attribution to Mrs. Sneha Ogale and restrict their use to non-profit contexts.

This project is part of OE4BW Hub covering North And South America led by Dr. Jenni Hayman, Hub Coordinator.