The role of “effective microorganisms” in the composting of banana (Musa ssp.) residues
Abstract
“Effective microorganisms” (EM) are a poorly defined mixture of supposedly beneficial microorganisms that are claimed to enhance microbial turnover in compost and soil. In Costa Rica, EM are used to produce organic compost (bokashi) from banana residues (Musa ssp.). Given the scarcity of scientific data about the effects of EM on the mineralization of plant residues, this study aimed at investigating the effects of EM addition on the decomposition of banana residues during Bokashi production. To this end, the following non‐EM treatments were compared to EM Bokashi: Bokashi produced with water (W), with molasses (M) as an EM additive, and with sterilized EM (EMst). Subsequently, the effects of the resulting Bokashi treatments on the growth of young banana plants were evaluated. Compared with non‐EM controls, the effect of EM on the mineralization of banana material was negligible. Dry‐matter losses of the composts with different EM treatments were similar, with about 78% over 5 weeks. Ergosterol concentration was highest in EM Bokashi (77 µg (g dry soil)–1) and lowest in EMst Bokashi (29 µg (g dry soil)–1). Microbial biomass carbon (C mic) and microbial biomass nitrogen (N mic) were both lowest in EM (C mic = 3121 µg g–1; N mic = 449 µg g–1), while C mic was highest in Bokashi produced with molasses (3892 µg g–1) and N mic was highest in EMst (615 µg g–1). Treatment effects on adenylate concentrations and adenylate energy charge were negligible. Application of all Bokashi variants to young banana plants significantly increased shoot growth under greenhouse conditions compared to plants grown in a control soil without amendments. However, these effects were similar for all Bokashi treatments, even if EM Bokashi increased the K concentrations in banana leaves significantly compared to Bokashi produced with EMst and the control. Bokashi produced with only molasses and EM Bokashi decreased the number of root nematodes under greenhouse conditions compared to the control. Overall, the results confirmed the expected influence of composting on the degradation of organic material and the effect of compost application on plant growth. Hower, under the conditions of this study, EM showed no special effects in this, except for increasing the K concentrations in the leaves of young banana plants.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
EM had no influence on banana residue decomposition.
“The effects of adding EM on banana residue decomposition were investigated by Formowitz et al. [17], and the result revealed the fact of EM not having any influence [17].”
From Environmental applications of Effective Microorganisms: a review of current knowledge and recommendations for future directions (2021) · cites this paper as [17]
Cites
An extraction method for measuring soil microbial biomass C
Vance, E. D., Brookes, P. C., & Jenkinson, D. S. (1987) · Soil Biology and Biochemistry · doi:10.1016/0038-0717(87)90052-6 · Cited by 12,883 · see citing works
Brookes, P. C., Landman, A., Pruden, G., & Jenkinson, D. S. (1985) · Soil Biology and Biochemistry · doi:10.1016/0038-0717(85)90144-0 · Cited by 5,853 · see citing works
Measurement of soil microbial biomass C by fumigation-extraction—an automated procedure
Wu, J., Joergensen, R. G., Pommerening, B., Chaussod, R., & Brookes, P. C. (1990) · Soil Biology and Biochemistry · doi:10.1016/0038-0717(90)90046-3 · Cited by 2,505 · see citing works
The fumigation-extraction method to estimate soil microbial biomass: Calibration of the kEN value
Joergensen, R. G., & Müeller, T. (1996) · Soil Biology and Biochemistry · doi:10.1016/0038-0717(95)00101-8 · Cited by 1,378 · see citing works
Soil microbial biomass is triggered into activity by trace amounts of substrate
Nobili, M. D., Contin, M., Mondini, C., & Brookes, P. C. (2001) · Soil Biology and Biochemistry · doi:10.1016/s0038-0717(01)00020-7 · Cited by 480 · see citing works
Chefetz, B., Hatcher, P. G., Hadar, Y., et al. (1996) · Journal of Environmental Quality · doi:10.2134/jeq1996.00472425002500040018x · Cited by 414 · see citing works
Ergosterol and microbial biomass relationship in soil
Djajakirana, G., Joergensen, R. G., & Meyer, B. (1996) · Biology and Fertility of Soils · doi:10.1007/bf00334573 · Cited by 350 · see citing works
de Brito, A. M., Gagne, S., & Antoun, H. (1995) · Applied and Environmental Microbiology · doi:10.1128/aem.61.1.194-199.1995 · Cited by 284 · see citing works
Hellmann, B., Zelles, L., Palojärvi, A., & Bai, Q. (1997) · Applied and Environmental Microbiology · doi:10.1128/aem.63.3.1011-1018.1997 · Cited by 272 · see citing works
Biological control of nematodes: Soil amendments and microbial antagonists
Rodríguez-Kábana, R., Morgan‐Jones, G., & Chet, I. (1987) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-94-009-3627-0_17 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
Compost Age and Sample Storage Effects on Maturity Indicators of Biosolids Compost
Butler, T., Sikora, L. J., Steinhilber, P., et al. (2001) · Journal of Environmental Quality · doi:10.2134/jeq2001.2141 · Cited by 184 · see citing works
Biological control of nematodes: Soil amendments and microbial antagonists
Rodríguez-Kábana, R., Morgan‐Jones, G., & Chet, I. (1987) · Plant and Soil · doi:10.1007/bf02370944 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Daly, M. J., & Stewart, D. P. C. (1999) · Journal of Sustainable Agriculture · doi:10.1300/j064v14n02_04 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Properties and Applications of an Organic Fertilizer Inoculated with Effective Microorganisms
Yamada, K., & Xu, H.-L. (2001) · Journal of Crop Production · doi:10.1300/j144v03n01_21 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Utilization of waste materials in nematode control: A review
Akhtar, M., & Alam, M. M. (1993) · Bioresource Technology · doi:10.1016/0960-8524(93)90134-w · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Xu, H.-L. (2001) · Journal of Crop Production · doi:10.1300/j144v03n01_16 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
The adenylate energy charge of the soil microbial biomass
Brookes, P. C., TATE, K. R., & Jenkinson, D. S. (1983) · Soil Biology and Biochemistry · doi:10.1016/0038-0717(83)90112-8 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Xu, H.-L., Wang, R., & Mridha, M. A. U. (2001) · Journal of Crop Production · doi:10.1300/j144v03n01_15 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Response of microbial biomass to air-drying and rewetting in soils and compost
Mondini, C., Contin, M., Leita, L., et al. (2002) · Geoderma · doi:10.1016/s0016-7061(01)00095-7 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Dyckmans, J., & Raubuch, M. (1997) · Journal of Microbiological Methods · doi:10.1016/s0167-7012(97)00039-0 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Characterization of a Bench‐Scale System for Studying the Biodegradation of Organic Solid Wastes
Tseng, D. Y., Chalmers, J. J., Tuovinen, O. H., et al. (1995) · Biotechnology Progress · doi:10.1021/bp00034a012 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Microbial biomass and activity in composts of different composition and age
Gattinger, A., Bausenwein, U., & Bruns, C. (2004) · Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science · doi:10.1002/jpln.200421342 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Microbial activity and biomass in mixture treatments of soil and biogenic municipal refuse compost
Joergensen, R. G., Meyer, B., Roden, R. B. S., et al. (1996) · Biology and Fertility of Soils · doi:10.1007/bf00335817 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Chemical changes under aerobic composting and nutrient supplying potential of banana residue compost
Ultra, V. U., Mendoza, D. M., & Briones, A. M. (2005) · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · doi:10.1079/raf2005104 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
MICROBIAL COMMUNITY STRUCTURE DYNAMICS DURING AERATED AND MIXED COMPOSTING
VanderGheynst, J. S., & Lei, F. (2003) · Transactions of the ASAE · doi:10.13031/2013.12912 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Approaches to Biological Control of Nematode Pests by Natural Products and Enemies
Akhtar, M. (2001) · Journal of Crop Production · doi:10.1300/j144v03n01_30 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
MOLECULAR ASSESSMENT OF INOCULUM EFFICACY AND PROCESS REPRODUCIBILITY IN COMPOSTING USING ARISA
Schloss, P. D., Hay, A. G., Wilson, D. B., et al. (2003) · Transactions of the ASAE · doi:10.13031/2013.13568 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
COMPARING COMPOSTED YARD TRIMMINGS AND GROUND WOOD AS MULCHES
Lloyd, J. E., Hoitink, H. A. J., Stinner, B. R., et al. (2002) · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
How effective are ‘Effective microorganisms® (EM)’? Results from a field study in temperate climate
Mayer, J., Scheid, S., Widmer, F., Fließbach, A., & Oberholzer, H.-R. (2010) · Applied Soil Ecology · doi:10.1016/j.apsoil.2010.08.007 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Safwat, S. M., & Matta, M. E. (2021) · Journal of Engineering and Applied Science · doi:10.1186/s44147-021-00049-1 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
- Authors
- Formowitz, B., Elango, F., Okumoto, S., Müller, T., & Buerkert, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Kassel (DE)
- Earth University (CR)
- University of Hohenheim (DE)
- ORCID
- Müller, Torsten
- Venue
- Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2007-10
- Volume
- 170
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 649-656
- ISSN
- 1436-8730 (ISSN-L)
- 1522-2624
- OpenAlex
- W2015333238
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 1.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- EARTH University
- Dole Company
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Composting and Vermicomposting Techniques
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Agriculture, Plant Science, Crop Management
- Keywords
- effective microorganisms, banana residues, composting, bokashi, organic compost, microbial biomass carbon, microbial biomass nitrogen, ergosterol, molasses, potassium uptake, root nematodes, soil amendment
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
