Post-Ratooning Water Spinach Growth and Production in Water Spinach Catfish Aquaponic Farming

Abstract

Water spinach is a plant species that can be utilized for food diversification in Indonesia. Water spinach is among the plants that can be grown using an aquaponic system. Aquaponics is a method of cultivation that integrates fish and vegetable farming in a single location. Ratoon is a pruning technique that stimulates the growth of new shoots and is a supportive method for aquaponic cultivation. The use of foliar fertilizer is an approach to enhance the growth of water spinach in aquaponic systems. The objective of this research is to assess the impact of foliar fertilizer and stocking density on the growth of water spinach ratoon in aquaponics. The study employed a factorial Randomized Block Design (RAK) approach, with foliar fertilizer as the first factor and stocking density as the second factor. The findings indicated that foliar fertilizer application had a significant effect on nearly all variables, except for the number of leaves in the third ratoon, wet and dry weight of roots in the third ratoon, root volume in the third ratoon, and plant biomass. The most effective type of foliar fertilizer was found to be Growmore. The stocking density of catfish also had a notable impact on most variables, except for the plant height in the third ratoon, number of leaves in the third ratoon, stem diameter in the second ratoon, stem diameter in the third ratoon, and dry weight in the third ratoon. The optimal catfish stocking density was determined to be 15 catfish. The combined treatment of foliar fertilizer and catfish stocking density only showed a significant effect on certain variables, such as stem diameter in the second ratoon, root wet weight in the third ratoon, root volume in the third ratoon, and plant biomass. The highest average value was observed in the treatment combination of 15 catfish with Growmore fertilizer.