EFFECTS OF COMPOST ON SOIL PROPERTIES AND YIELD OF PINEAPPLE (Ananas comusus L. MERR.) ON RED ACID SOIL, LAMPUNG, INDONESIA

Abstract

Compost is an organic matter commonly used to improve the chemical and physical properties of soil, especially of marginal soil, where the limiting factors of the soil fertility are the lack of organic matter and low soil pH. One aim of this study is to determine the effect of compost application on the improvement of the chemical and physical properties of acid soils planted with pineapple. Another aim of this study is to determine the effect of compost in reducing the foliar fertilizer and the influence of this reduction on the pineapple yield. A factorial experiment was arranged in a randomized block design with two factors and three replications. The first factor was the rate of compost application with the following treatments: K0: no compost, K25: compost 25 t ha-1 and K50: compost 50 t ha-1, while the second factor was the reduction of foliar chemical fertilizer with the following treatments: P100: 100% of the standard fertilizer, P80: 80% of the standard fertilizer and P60: 60% of the standard fertilizer. The total combined treatments, i.e., nine treatments, consisted of K0P100, K0P80, K0P60, K25P100, K25P80, K25P60, K50P100, K50P80 and K50P60 with three replications. The results showed that the compost could improve the chemical and physical properties of acid soils, and the application of the compost dose of 25 t ha-1 enabled a reduction of foliar chemical fertilizer by 40% with no loss in yield. Keywords: Compost, Foliar spray, Pineapple, Reduction of foliar fertilizers, Red soil