JJBS Volume 14, Number 3, September 2021 ISSN 1995-6673 Pages 593 – 599 https://doi.org/10.54319/jjbs/140328 Jordan Journal of Biological Sciences Microbes-Coated Urea for Reducing Urea Dose of Strawberry Early Growth in Soilless Media Reginawanti Hindersah 1,* , Indyra Rahmadina 2 , Betty Natalie Fitriatin 3 , Mieke Rochimi Setiawati 2 , Diky Indrawibawa 3 1 Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Padjadjaran, Jalan. Raya Bandung-Sumedang Km. 21, Jatinangor, Sumedang 45363, Indonesia 2 Graduated from Agrotechnology Undergraduate Program, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia 3 Bumi Agrotechnology Farm, Kp. Kebon Cau, Jalan Mekartani, Kertawangi Village, Cisarua District, Bandung Barat Regency, Indonesia Received: February 27, 2021; Revised: May 17, 2021; Accepted: July 19, 2021 Abstract Strawberry is a high-value fruit in Indonesia. During the growth phase for transplant production, farmers applied conventional urea that is easy to volatile and leach. Coated Urea has proven to reduce nitrogen (N) losses from urea fertilizer. Microbial-coated urea application is a reliable way to limit the loss of N from urea and at the same time increase the use of biofertilizer. Azotobacter and Bacillus are widely used as a biofertilizer formulation. This experimental objective was to determine the effect of two formulations and doses of urea coated with solid organic inoculant of Azotobacter and Bacillus on the growth parameters of strawberry seedling as well as reducing urea fertilizer. The green house experiment was carried out in randomized completely block design (RCBD) with five treatments and five replications. One-month old strawberry cv Festival seedlings were grown in coco peat based organic substrate. The seedlings were treated with four combinations of two doses and formulation of microbial coated urea (MCU). Control seedlings received a dose of conventional prilled urea. The results showed that MCU affected root dry weight, root volume, root to shoot ratio, SPAD value, and N uptake but did not significantly affect shoot parameters compared to controls. The best composition of urea coated material was compost-based inoculant enriched with 5% zeolite and 5% liquid inoculant. Moreover, this experiment explained that microbial-coated urea might replace 50% of conventional urea. Keyword: Bacteria coated Urea, Azotobacter sp., Bacillus sp., Zeolite, Fertilizers doses, Strawberry growth * Corresponding author e-mail: reginawanti@unpad.ac.id. 1. Introduction Strawberries (Fragaria × Ananassa Duch) grow well in Indonesian mountainous area with good physical soil properties. Farmers in high land Bandung and Bandung Barat Regency cultivate the strawberries since decade ago with significant economic benefit. Strawberry productivity and quality in Indonesian high land are limited by the nutrients management. In general, farmers propagate the strawberry from runner, well known as stolon, that grow above the ground. The new clone will grow and can be separated from the mother plant once the stolon roots touch the soil. Some strawberry producers have carried out strawberry nurseries to produce strawberry using soilless growth media composed of coco peat and manure (Ameri et al., 2012; Raja et al., 2018). Compared to soil, this medium contains only a few nutrients but its physical properties are good for rooting. Farmers in Bandung Regency applied chemical fertilizer, urea and NPK compound as well, to provide nutrient during bare-root strawberry transplant production. The disadvantage of using urea is ammonia volatilization at high temperatures environment (Fan et al., 2011; Jadon et al., 2018). Increasing temperature from 20 to 30 °C enhanced NH 3 volatilization with higher loss recorded in sandy soil than loamy soil (Fan et al., 2011). Urea can be easily leaching from root zone since the precipitation is higher over the water holding capacity (Burger and Jackson, 2003; Wang et al., 2015). To overcome the constraints, coated urea has been recommended as a reliable way to slow and control N release from urea (Bibi et al., 2016). Ground application of neem-and oleoresin-coated urea reported to reduce the ammonia volatilization and nitrate leaching significantly (Jadon et al., 2018). We have limited information about fertilizer/urea coated with beneficial microbes. Researchers have shown the effectivity of microbes-coated urea (MCU) to reduce the level of chlorinated pesticide and the persistent organic pollutant in soil (Wahyuni et al., 2016). Ahmad et al (2017) stated that bacterial-impregnated ammonium phosphate enhancing nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) use efficiency of wheat. Coating urea with soil beneficial microbes such as the N-fixing Azotobacter and the phosphate solubilizing Bacillus is also a way to enhance the beneficial microbe application. Azotobacter and Bacillus are the active ingredients of biofertilizer suggested to provide nutrients and ensure plant growth through N fixation and phosphate solubilization respectively (Rubio et al., 2013; Saeid et al., 2018). Both