Abstract
The demand for kenaf in the world increases rapidly by the years. Cultivation of the crop in Malaysia is a challenging task, especially when kenaf is grown on sandy soils with low fertility, such as the BRIS S oils (Beach Ridges Interspersed with Swales). A pot stud y was conducted in a glasshouse at Universiti Putra Malaysia to evaluate the potential of inorganic and organic fertilizers or their combination for growi ng kenaf on very sandy BRIS Soils, using variety V36. There were altogether sixteen treatments: (T 1)-control (100% BRIS soil), (T 2)-NPK (chemical fertilizer), (T 3)-CM (chicken manure), (T 4)-B (biochar), (T 5)-Z (zeolite), (T 6)-NPK+CM, (T 7)-NPK+B, (T 8)-NPK+Z, (T 9)-CM+B, (T 10 )-CM+Z, (T 11 )-B+Z, (T 12 )-NPK+CM+B, (T 13 )-NPK+CM+Z, (T 14 )-CM+B+Z, (T 15 )-NPK+B+Z and (T 16 )- NPK+CM+B+Z. Results showed that application of inorganic material or organic fertil izer in combination with chemical fertilizer (T 2 and T 16 ) improved soil fertility, which are reflected by the increase inexchangeable K, Ca and Mg, CEC, total N, total C and available P. The highest kenaf growth w as observed in T 15 treatment.Application of biochar, zeolite or chicken manure alone on the soils did no t result in better kenaf growth compared to the con trol. Zeolite and biochar should be applied with other fe rtilizers or organic substrate to obtain a positive yield of crop and increase the soil properties. In addition, more studies on the application of chicken manure at different ratios should be conducted to obtain the best yield. Combination treatment, T 15 (NPK + biochar + zeolite) can be suggested to the farmers especially cultivation of kenaf on sandy BRIS soil in order t o obtain the best kenaf growth performance and indirectly re duce excessive use of chemical fertilizers.
Highlights
Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) is a warm-season annual crop that is similar tocotton, okra and Hibiscus
Mohd Hadi Akbar Basri et al / American Journal of Applied Sciences 10 (12): 1586-1597, 2013 In Malaysia, Kenaf is normally planted on sandy BRIS Soils due to its ability to adapt to adverse environmental conditions, such as low soil fertility
The Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) recorded in this study was very low with a value of 3.94 cmolc kg-1 soil which was due to low clay content and similar to other study found by (Malisa et al, 2011; Roslan et al, 2011) reported that the CEC values on a BRIS soil less than 5 cmolc kg-1.This means that the bases are lost via leaching during rainy season
Summary
Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) is a warm-season annual crop that is similar tocotton, okra and Hibiscus. Kenaf is native to EastCentral Africa and all over South America-Asia It is utilized in the cordage and sacking manufacture as a substitute of jute and more recently as a raw material for the production of paper pulp (Abdul-Hamid et al, 2009). BRIS Soils are located along the coastal plains of Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah with an approximate area of 200,000 ha (Abdul-Hamid et al, 2009). They contain up to 82-99% sand particles with cation exchange capacity of 9.53 cmolckg-1 soil and the soil reaction is usually acidic (Chen, 1985; Roslan et al, 2010).
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