BIODIVERSITAS ISSN: 1412-033X Volume 22, Number 4, April 2021 E-ISSN: 2085-4722 Pages: 1686-1694 DOI: 10.13057/biodiv/d220411 Combination of plant growth-promoting bacteria and botanical pesticide increases organic red rice yield and reduces the Leptocorisa acuta population MOHAMMAD HOESAIN 1,♥ , SIGIT PRASTOWO 1 , SUHARTO 1 , ANKARDIANSYAH PANDU PRADANA 1 , IIS NUR ASYIAH 2 , FARIZ KUSTIAWAN ALFARIZY 3 , MUH ADIWENA 4 1 Department of Plant Protection, Agriculture Faculty, Universitas Jember. Jl. Kalimantan No. 37, Kampus Tegalboto, Jember 68121, Jawa Timur, Indonesia. ♥ email: hoesain.faperta@unej.ac.id 2 Biology Education Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Jember. Jl. Kalimantan No. 37, Kampus Tegalboto, Jember 68121, Jawa Timur, Indonesia. 3 Agricultural Sciences Department, Postgraduate Program Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Jember. Jl. Kalimantan No. 37, Kampus Tegalboto, Jember 68121, Jawa Timur, Indonesia. 4 Agrotechnology Department, Agriculture Faculty, Universitas Borneo Tarakan. Jl. Amal Lama No. 1 Kelurahan Pantai Amal, Kota Tarakan 77123, Kalimantan Utara, Indonesia. Manuscript received: 26 February 2021. Revision accepted: 8 March 2021. Abstract. Hoesain M, Prastowo S, Suharto, Pradana AP, Asyiah IN, Alfarizy FK, Adiwena M. 2021. Combination of plant growth- promoting bacteria and botanical pesticide increases organic red rice yield and reduces the Leptocorisa acuta population. Biodiversitas 22: 1686-1694. Organic red rice production faces similar constraints as conventional rice production, namely pest attacks, especially rice earhead bugs (Leptocorisa acuta). The use of synthetic chemical inputs is also not allowed in organic red rice production. This problem can be overcome with the application of botanical pesticides, but the use of botanical pesticides does not promote plant growth. As a solution, a combination formula of plant growth-promoting bacteria and botanical pesticides is required. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a combination of plant growth-promoting bacteria with botanical pesticides in increasing the growth and yield of organic red rice plants and reducing the rice earhead bug population. The research was conducted on organic agricultural land in Jember Regency, Indonesia. The research began with the extraction of botanical pesticides from the leaves of Azadirachta indica, Aglaia odorata, and Ageratum conyzoides using 96% ethanol. The bacterial isolates obtained and characterized in previous studies were tested for their compatibility and cell viability in the combination formula. The field experiment was conducted with 8 treatments, 3 replications, and each replication consisted of 150 rice plants. The randomization pattern followed a randomized block design pattern. The results showed that all bacteria were compatible when combined with 20% botanical pesticides. In addition, cell viability at 3 months of storage decreased, but not significantly. In the organic rice growth variable, all combinations of bacteria with botanical pesticides showed good performance to increase plant growth. Increased plant growth occurred in the number of tillers, plant height, and the number of productive panicles. Furthermore, yield variables, fresh seed weight per panicle, dry seed weight per panicle, and weight of 1000 seeds also increased significantly after being treated with a combination of plant growth-promoting bacteria and botanical pesticides. The decline in the rice earhead bug population also occurred in all plants treated using botanical pesticides either singly or in combination. The best treatments in this study were BS01 and PD01, which showed consistent results. This study provides information that the combination of plant growth-promoting bacteria and botanical pesticides is compatible, does not cause a high number decrease of bacterial cells at a shelf-life of 3 months, and can stimulate the growth and yield of organic red rice, and can suppress rice earhead bug populations. Keywords: Bacillus, extraction, compatibility, Pseudomonas, viability INTRODUCTION Rice is the staple food consumed by people in most countries of the Asian continent, including Indonesia (Dawe and Timmer 2012). The demand for rice in Indonesia is reported to be increasing year by year (Asngari et al. 2020). As one of the rice producers, Indonesia certainly faces various challenges in rice production, some of which are pest attacks and plant diseases, soil quality degradation, and climate change (Thorburn 2015). These problems are complex and require holistic prevention and response efforts. One effort that can be done is through organic rice cultivation (Prasertwattanakul and Ongkunaruk 2018). Organic rice is currently gaining the public's great interest, especially health-conscious consumers who are aware of the importance of consuming healthy products (Jitrawang and Krairit 2019). Besides, the demand for red rice is also increasing along with the many campaigns about the benefits of consuming red rice for long-term health (Hegde et al. 2013; Niu et al. 2013). Several standard rules and requirements must be met in organic rice cultivation, including not using synthetic chemicals in the cultivation process, either fertilizers or pesticides (Hazra et al. 2018). Therefore, the use of organic fertilizers and pesticides is an essential factor in an organic farming system (Bhattacharjee and Dey 2014). Similar to conventional rice cultivation, organic rice cultivation also encounters many problems. A common problem in rice cultivation is the presence of pests and