Effectiveness of soil tillage and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (AM) fungi inoculation on fruit development of the cocoa plant (Theobroma cacao L.)

Abstract

The research was conducted in the form of an experiment, aimed to determine the effect of soil tillage and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) inoculation on the development of cocoa fruits. This research was carried out in Barang Village, Liliriaja District, Soppeng Regency, from March to September 2017. The factorial experiment was set based on a randomized group design pattern. The first factor was soil tillage consisted of four levels, namely without soil tillage (control); application of organic mulch of cocoa leaves and from the remaining of pruning; soil tillage without organic mulch; and soil tillage with organic mulch. The second factor was AMF inoculation which consisted of four levels, namely without AMF, AMF 7.5 g plant−1, AMF 15 g plant−1, and AMF 22.5 g plant−1. The results show that the interaction between soil tillage with organic mulch and AMF inoculation of 22.5 g plant−1 produced the highest number of seeds per 100 grams of dried cocoa beans (8% moisture content). The treatment of soil tillage with the use of organic mulch can increase the number of fruits formed, the number of seeds of cocoa.