Growth and Yield of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill) Gustavi Variety Applied with Varying Levels of Cow Manure Vermicompost and Nasa Liquid Organic Fertilizer

Abstract

Dry land is a prospective resource to support sustainable agricultural development. Apart from its expanse which reaches an area of 144.47 million hectares.  However, there are various challenges in using dry land as a source of new growth for the agricultural sector. One of them is the rapid land degradation process caused by soil erosion, soil compaction, scarcity of water supply to irrigate plants, and loss of soil organic matter which causes low soil fertility levels. Efforts that can be made are by providing organic fertilizer. The research aimed to determine the growth and yield of tomato applied with varying levels of vermicompost and NASA POC and their interaction effects. Ultimately, determine the optimum concentrations of vermicompost and NASA POC suitable for the growth and yield of tomato plant. The research was carried out from August 2022 to December 2022 in the Organic Rice Cluster area, Karang Anyar Village, Tanjung Palas District, Bulungan Regency, North Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. The research used a 4 x 3 Factorial Experiment in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD), with 5 replications. The first factor is the dose of vermicompost (V) consisting of 4 levels, namely: without vermicompost (v0), 450 g polybag-1 (v1), 900 g polybag-1 (v2), 1350 g polybag-1 (v3). The second factor is the NASA POC concentration (P) consisting of 3 levels, namely: without Nasa POC (p0), 1 ml l-1 water (p1), and 2.5 ml l-1 water (p2). The results showed that the response to plant height aged 14 and 21 days after planting, plant age at flowering, plant age at harvest, number of fruit per plant, weight of one fruit, and weight of fruit per plant were not significantly different from the application of vermicompost, Nasa POC and their interactions, except for the response The height of plants aged 28 days was significantly different from the application of chicken manure vermicompost. The highest fruit weight per plant was produced in the treatment of 900 g polybag-1 vermicompost and 1 ml l-1 water Nasa POC.