Improvement of Ultisol Fertility and Sorghum Yield by Applying Soil Amendments, NPK, and Eco enzymes to Support Food Diversification

Abstract

The increase in world population must be accompanied by the increase of food production. Diversification of food is also needed to support a healthy and productive world community. Increasing food diversification is conducted by increasing soil fertility. Improvement of soil fertility was carried out by using soil amendments and NPK fertilization, as well as using eco enzymes on sorghum on Ultisol soil. This study was using factorial RBD design split-split plot 3 × 2 × 2 with three replications and 108 pots with 10 kg Ultisol pot-1. The main plot consisted of soil amendments (no amendment, biochar, compost), sub-plots, NPK (600, 900 kg ha-1), split-split plot, eco enzyme (sprayed eco enzyme once week-1 and every two weeks sprayed). The results showed that there were interactions between soil amendments and eco enzymes on soil pH and NPK. There is an interaction between NPK and eco enzymes on soil pH, soil EC, and sorghum leaf chlorophyll. There is an interaction between soil amendments, NPK, and eco enzymes on N, P, and K content and yield potential. The use of soil amendments, NPK, and eco enzymes effectively improves Ultisol fertility and sorghum yields to support food diversification.