The effectiveness of young coconut waste biochar application and goat manures to entisol soil on tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) vegetative growth

Abstract

This study aims to determine the effectiveness of applying young coconut biochar waste and goat manures to entisol soil on the vegetative growth of tomatoes. The research was conducted at the Biochar Research Center, Agriculture Faculty, Syiah Kuala University, which took place on August to December 2021. This study used a factorial randomized block design consisting of 2 factors. The first factor is treatment of Young Coconut Waste Biochar (B1: control, B2: 18.52 g polybag-1, B3: 37.04 g polybag-1) and the second factor is treatment dose of goat Manure (W), (W1: control, W2: 18.52 g polybag-1, W3: 37.04 g polybag-1 and W4: 55.55 polybag-1). Variables observed in this study were plant height (2, 4, 6, 8 weeks after planting), number of aged branches (2, 4, 6, 8 weeks after planting), net assimilation rate, plant growth rate and relative growth rate. The results showed that the application of young coconut biochar wastes and goat manures had no significant effect on the vegetative growth of tomatoes such as plant height at 4, 6, 8 weeks after planting, number of branches at 4, 6, 8 weeks after planting and net assimilation rate. There was an interaction on plant height at 2 weeks after planting but the application of biochar from young coconut waste and goat manure was not able to increase plant height, while in plant growth rate and relative growth rate the best dose was found in the application of 55.55 g polybag-1 goat manure.