Increasing the Growth and Production of Irrigated Rice Through the Integrated Application of Rice–Duck–Azolla

Firdauas Sulaiman,Munandar Munandar,Mery Hasmeda,Holidi Holidi,Etty Safriyani

doi:10.5586/aa.7322

Firdauas Sulaiman, Munandar Munandar + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.5586/aa.7322

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Journal: Acta Agrobotanica	Publication Date: Jun 12, 2020
Citations: 3	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Sriwijaya University, Universitas Musi Rawas

Abstract

The application of integrated agriculture is an effort to reduce dependence up on agrochemicals and increase the absorption of nutrients, especially nitrogen, to increase plant growth and production. Azolla is an algae that can provide nitrogen for rice, while ducks can increase the availability of N, P, and K, as well as the efficiency of nitrogen use. This research aimed to evaluate the role of ducks and Azolla in increasing the growth and production of rice plants. This research was conducted from October 2018 to February 2019 using an experimental method with a nonfactorial randomized block design. The combinations of nitrogen fertilizers, Azolla, and ducks (K) were as follows: K1 = 115 kg N ha−1, without ducks, without Azolla; K2 = 86 kg N ha−1, without ducks, 1,000 kg Azolla ha−1; K3 = 86 kg N ha−1, 3,000 ducks ha−1, 1,000 kg Azolla ha−1; K4 = 58 kg N ha−1, 3,000 ducks ha−1, 1,000 kg Azolla ha−1; K5 = 29 kg N ha−1, 3,000 ducks ha−1, 1,000 kg Azolla ha−1; and K6 = without N fertilizer, 3,000 ducks ha−1, 1,000 kg Azolla ha−1. The results showed that the application of 58 kg N ha−1, 3,000 ducks ha−1, and 1,000 kg Azolla ha−1 (K4) was able to decrease the N fertilizer application by 50% and increase the rice growth and yield by 12.17% and 20.32%, respectively. Therefore, the integrated application of rice–duck–Azolla would support sustainable agriculture.

Highlights

Modern agriculture requires high external inputs, such as inorganic fertilizers and pesticides (Reijntjes et al, 1992), and leads to water, soil, and air pollution, which does not support the concept of sustainable agriculture (Peng, 2011)
Azolla forms a symbiotic relationship with the cyanobacteria-producing Anabaena azollae, which can fix nitrogen in the air, reaching up to 30–60 kg ha−1 (Kollah et al, 2016)
The application of nitrogen fertilizers, ducks, and Azolla had a significant effect on the leaf chlorophyll content and dry straw weight

Summary

Introduction

Modern agriculture requires high external inputs, such as inorganic fertilizers and pesticides (Reijntjes et al, 1992), and leads to water, soil, and air pollution, which does not support the concept of sustainable agriculture (Peng, 2011). Modern agriculture can increase production costs and reduce farmers’ incomes (Reijntjes et al, 1992). To reduce the high external inputs on rice cultivation, integrated agriculture concepts have been developed (Mandavi et al, 2016). Applying Azolla with rice plants can increase the plant height, number of productive tillers, leaf area, dry weight of the rice plants (Castro et al, 2003), growth, and rice plant production (Mahaligam et al, 2014; Mujio et al, 2016). Azolla forms a symbiotic relationship with the cyanobacteria-producing Anabaena azollae, which can fix nitrogen in the air, reaching up to 30–60 kg ha−1 (Kollah et al, 2016)

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