Effect of Liquid Organic Fertilizer Paitan Leaf Extract (Tithonia diversivolia) on the Growth and Yields of Soybean Plant (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) on Rainfed Land

Abstract

Soybeans (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) are the third main food commodity after rice and corn. Until now, soybean productivity at the farmer level is still low, with an average of 1.3 Mg ha-1 with a range of 0.6-2.0 Mg ha-1, while the potential yield can reach 3.0 Mg ha-1. This very large productivity gap provides an opportunity to increase production through increasing productivity at the farmer level. This research aims to determine the effect of POC of paitan leaf extract (Tithonia diversifolia) and the best concentration on the growth and yield of soybeans on rainfed land. This research was carried out in March – June 2021 in Gunung Panjang Village, Tanjung Redeb District, East Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. Data analysis uses Analysis of Variance, if there is a significant difference, then continue using the Duncan’s Mutiple Range test at the 5% level. The research used a Completely Randomized Block Design with five treatments, namely t0 (control), t1 (25%), t2 (50%), t3 (75%), and t4 (100)% with 5 replications. The results showed that the concentration of Tithonia diversifolia leaf extract did not differ significantly on the number of productive branches, total pods, total branches, flowering time, filled pods, empty pods, weight of 100 grains, yield, and potential yield except plant height. The t2 concentration (50%) gives the highest average yield potential, namely 3.22 Mg ha-1.