Higher NPK nutrients absorption due to the use of humic acid affects the growth and yield of baby corn applied with mungbean extract

Abstract

This study aims to determine the growth and production of baby corn plants due to application of humic acid and mungbean sprouts extract. The study was conducted at the Teaching Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Hasanuddin University, Makassar from March to May 2018. This study used a factorial two-factor design that was arranged based on a randomized block design. The first factor was the application of humic acid consisted of control, 20, and 25 kg ha−1. While the second factor was the mungbean sprout extract concentration consisted of control, 5, 15, and 25 ppm. Each treatment was repeated 3 times, resulted in 36 experimental units. The results show that humic acid treatment can increase NPK uptake by corn plants and improve soil chemical properties. However, the two treatments had no significant effect on the growth and production of the baby corn plants. Application of 25 kg ha−1 humic acid and 25 ppm mungbean sprouts extract showed the best results on the parameters of the plant height (107.28 cm) and the highest number of leaves (15.56 leaves). Highest production per hectare was obtained both from the application of 20 kg ha−1 humic acid and 5 ppm of mungbean sprouts extract, and application of 25 kg ha−1 humic acid and with 15 ppm of mungbean sprout extract.