Abstract
The soils in tidal swamp land as new development area for rice in Indonesia have a considerably low available silica (Si) because very acid condition and no Si fertilization. Therefore, increasing the productivity of rice as Si accumulator plant, in tidal swamp land requires silica fertilizer. This research presented the effect of applications of silicon in the form of orthosilicic acid (H4SiO4) enriched with selected Sisolubilizing fungi, formulated as 4-gram tableted Si fertilizer (BioSilAc) on tidal swamp land soil to improve yield and reduce chemical fertilizer dosage for rice. Field experiment was conducted in Ketapang subdistrict, South Lampung by using a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with six treatments and four replicates. The treatments consisted of (ha-1 season-1): 100% NPK recommended dosage (P1); 100% NPK + 80 BioSilAc tablets (P2); 75% NPK + 80 BioSilAc tablets (P3); 75% NPK + 100 BioSilAc tablets (P4); 50% NPK + 120 BioSilAc tablets (P5); and control (P6). The results showed that P2 treatment increased the highest rice yield in dried harvested grain by 7.6% or equivalent to 500 kg ha-1 compared to P1 treatment. The highest fertilization efficiency can be achieved in P4 treatment which means the NPK recommended dosage can be reduced 25% by adding 100 BioSilAc tablets ha-1 season-1 indicated by insignificantly different productivity compared to that of P1. The Revenue/Cost (R/C) values showed that P2 treatment was economically feasible fertilization practices.
Highlights
Rice is known as silica (Si) accumulator plant (Alvarez & Datnoff, 2001)
This research presented the effect of applications of silicon in the form of orthosilicic acid (H4SiO4) enriched with selected Sisolubilizing fungi, formulated as 4-gram tableted Si fertilizer (BioSilAc) on tidal swamp land soil to improve yield and reduce chemical fertilizer dosage for rice
The highest fertilization efficiency can be achieved in P4 treatment which means the NPK recommended dosage can be reduced 25% by adding 100 BioSilAc tablets ha-1 season-1 indicated by insignificantly different productivity compared to that of P1
Summary
Rice is known as silica (Si) accumulator plant (Alvarez & Datnoff, 2001). The potential of Si in improving crop yield has been presented by many researchers, especially under abiotic and bioticApplication of bio-silicic acid to improve yield and fertilizer efficiency..............................................(Kalbuadi et al.)stresses (Keeping & Reynold, 2009; Meena et al, 2014; Farooq & Dietz, 2015). Goenadi et al (2018) found that application of Si on wetland rice improved yield and reduced NPK fertilizer dosage. These evidences taken place almost all over the world indicating the important role of Si as a functional nutrient for crops. The soils have a low available Si due to a very low soil pH and the fact that Si fertilization is not a common practice yet (Siregar & Yusuf, 2020) These conditions will result in the depletion of soil Si over prolong time which leads to the decreasing crop yield, especially for rice as a Si accumulator crop. Si fertilization is necessary to resolve the problem with a fertilizer technology which adapts to tidal swamp land characteristics
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
