UJI EFEKTIVITAS BIO-ORGANIC FERTILIZER (PUPUK ORGANIK HAYATI) DALAM MENSUBSTITUSI KEBUTUHAN PUPUK ANORGANIK PADA TANAMAN SWEET SORGHUM [SORGHUM BICOLOR (L.) MOENCH]

The aim of research was to examine the effectiveness of bio-organic fertilizer to substitute inorganic fertilizer necessity on sweet sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] vegetative growth. This research was carried out in the University Farm green house Cikabayan and in the Leuwikopo Experiment Field, Institut Pertanian Bogor. The green house experiment used completely randomized design with six treatments, namely: 1. No fertilizer (control), 2. 100%NPK, 3. 50%N + DOP, 4. 50%NPK + Fertismart, 5. 50%NPK + Ponti, dan 6. 50%NPK + Biost. The field experiment used completely randomizes block design with seven treatments, namely: 1. No fertilizer (control), 2. 50%NPK, 3. 100%NPK, 4. 50%N + DOP, 5. 50%NPK + Fertismart, 6. 50%NPK + Ponti, and 7. 50%NPK + Biost. Materials which was used were super sugar variety, NPK fertilizers, bio-organic fertilizer Fertismart, Ponti, Biost, and organic fertilizer Double Organic Phosphate (DOP).The results of greeen house research showed that bio-organic fertilizer could increase crop height, number of leaves, wet weight upper crop, dry weight upper crop, wet weight root, and dry weight root of sweet sorghum than control and same with treatment of 100%NPK. Treatment of 50%NPK + Biost could increase crop height (47.8%) than control and same with treatment of 100%NPK. Treatment of 50%NPK + Ponti increase dry weight root (59%) than control and same with treatment of 100%NPK.The results of field research showed that bio-organic fertilizer Fertismart could increase wet weight upper crop, crop height (42.8%) and number of leaves (39.5%) than control, and same with 100%NPK. It means that bio-organic fertilizer could substitute about 50% inorganic necessity on sweet sorghum.Keywords: bio-organic fertilizer, Azotobacter, Azospirillum, phosphate solubilizing microbes

Plasma Carotenoid- and Retinol-Weighted Multi-SNP Scores and Risk of Breast Cancer in the National Cancer Institute Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium

Background: Dietary and circulating carotenoids have been inversely associated with breast cancer risk, but observed associations may be due to confounding. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in beta-carotene 15,15’-monooxygenase 1 (BCMO1), a gene encoding the enzyme involved in the first step of synthesizing vitamin A from dietary carotenoids, have been associated with circulating carotenoid concentrations and may serve as unconfounded surrogates for those biomarkers. We determined associations between variants in BCMO1 and breast cancer risk in a large cohort consortium. Methods: We used unconditional logistic regression to test four SNPs in BCMO1 for associations with breast cancer risk in 9,226 cases and 10,420 controls from the National Cancer Institute Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium (BPC3). We also tested weighted multi-SNP scores composed of the two SNPs with strong, confirmed associations with circulating carotenoid concentrations. Results: Neither the individual SNPs nor the weighted multi-SNP scores were associated with breast cancer risk [OR (95% confidence interval) comparing extreme quintiles of weighted multi-SNP scores = 1.04 (0.94-1.16) for beta-carotene, 1.08 (0.98-1.20) for alpha-carotene, 1.04 (0.94-1.16) for beta-cryptoxanthin, 0.95 (0.87-1.05) for lutein/zeaxanthin, and 0.92 (0.83-1.02) for retinol]. Furthermore, no associations were observed when stratifying by estrogen receptor status, but power was limited. Conclusions: Our results do not support an association between SNPs associated with circulating carotenoid concentrations and breast cancer risk. Impact: Future studies will need additional genetic surrogates and/or sample sizes at least three times larger to contribute evidence of a causal link between carotenoids and breast cancer. (C) 2013 AACR