Utilization of banana stem and coconut fiber as source base of liquid bio-fertilizer to improve soil quality and plant growth
Burhanuddin Rasyid, Muhammad Jayadi, and Sitti Rahma

Dept. of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture
Hasanuddin University

Abstract

Liquid bio-fertilizer could be a complement in improving plant growth and good soil quality. The objective of this study is to utilize banana and coconut by-products as the main source in developing liquid bio-fertilizer and the application into the soil to determine its effect to improve soil quality and plant growth. The pot experiment was conducted in a completely randomized block experimental design with two factors and all treatments replied in three replications. The first factor is coconut liquid fertilizer with 4 levels- SK1 (50 ml/pot), SK2 (100 ml/pot), SK3 (150 ml/pot) and SK4 (200 ml/pot). The second factor is banana liquid fertilizer with 4 levels- BP1 (25ml/pot), BP2 (50ml/pot), BP3 (75ml/pot) and BP4 (100ml/pot). In general, the application liquid fertilizer affected significantly to all measured parameters. A comparison of two source of liquid fertilizer was found that coconut fiber showed higher result than banana stem base source. Treatment of 150 mm/pot coconut liquid fertilizer (SK3) was shown the highest result in plant parameters performance (plant height, and dry weight). In case of soil quality improvement, the result showed increasing C-org., CEC, and K was not different significantly between SK3 and SK4. All over result showed potential development of liquid fertilizer of coconut fiber and banana stem source base could be applied to improve soil quality and plant growth. Field experiment is still needed to be conduct in evaluation the effect of this fertilizer in advanced.

Keywords: liquid bio-fertilizer, banana stem, coconut fiber, soil quality

Topic: Crop Production and Environment