The Utilization of Agricultural Waste Biochar and Straw Compost Fertilizer on Paddy Plant Growth

Abstract

The agricultural environment continues to be used for inappropriate technology, reduced agricultural land, insufficient inputs (chemical fertilizers and inorganic pesticides), and air. Rice is the most important food crop in Indonesia because almost all residents use rice as a staple food. Rice straw is a source of organic material that is available after harvesting rice with a large enough amounts but the use of rice straw has only been used in paddy fields. This research is a field experiment followed by laboratory research with the following stages: (a) analysis of soil samples before the research was conducted at the Soil Chemistry Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Syiah Kuala University, (b) field experiments by planting Inpari 30 variety rice, biochar treatment and straw compost treated according to the combination of each plot treatment, and soil sample analysis at the end of the study to re-test the soil chemical properties after conducting research with biochar and straw compost. This research method uses factorial randomized block design (RBD) consisting of two factors, namely: Biochar and Straw Compost. The results of this study indicate that biochar space has an influence on plant growth, namely plant height and number of paddy tillers. Observations on rice growth were 28 day after planting (DAP), 35(DAP) and (DAP) to find out the effects of giving biochar and straw compost, it is necessary to conduct further research on the next planting season so that it can be recognized and applied to save the use of chemical fertilizers. The administration of biochar and straw compost affects plant growth, namely plant height and the number of tillers in each rice with higher yields. It would be even better by giving biochar and straw compost together with higher yields. Thus, it is hoped that further research will be carried out in the next rice planting season to see how much residue is giving biochar and straw compost to improve rice yields. The results of the variance analysis showed that plant height 28 HST was significantly affected by biochar treatment with a significance value of 0.033. The results of the variance analysis showed that plant height 35 HST was significantly affected by the treatment of straw compost with a significance value of 0.018. The results of the variance analysis showed that plant height of 45 DAP was significantly affected by the treatment of biochar with a significance value of 0.019 while the treatment of straw compost had a very significant effect on plant height 45 DAP with a significance value of 0.001. The results of the variance analysis showed that the numbers of tillers 28 DAP were significantly affected by the treatment of biochar with a significance value of 0.013. The results of the variance analysis showed that the number of tillers 35 DAP and 45 DAP all had no significant effect by the treatment of biochar, straw compost, and interaction of biochar and straw compost because at plant age 35 DAP and 45 DAP the significance values were above 0.05.