Utilization of low plants peat brickets for macadamia (Macadamia integrifolia) planting

Abstract

Currently, the use of organic materials as organic fertilizer has been widely used by farmers. The awareness of farmers to use organic fertilizers has made organic fertilizers increasingly difficult to obtain. Organic fertilizers from chicken, goat and cow farms have generally been ordered and purchased by certain farmers. Therefore, alternative uses of other organic fertilizers need attention. Lowland peat is quite widely available in Indonesia, especially in North Sumatra. Peatlands are spread from the east coast of Aceh Province to the east coast of the Riau Province border. This potential makes it possible for peat to be modified into alternative organic fertilizers. One of the disadvantages of organic fertilizers is the large volume and weight. To overcome this problem, peat is made into briquettes through a pressing process so that its volume can be reduced to 1/3 times its previous volume. In addition, the acidic nature of peat is also expected to be greatly reduced by wasting peat water content. After being made into briquettes, the briquettes are used as organic fertilizer treatment for planting macadamia plants in the field. The results showed that the provision of briquettes from peat could increase the growth of macadamia plants compared to control. However, giving briquettes at a dose of 0.5 kg was not significantly different from giving briquettes up to 1.5 kg.