Characteristics of Oil Palm Stem Mulch as Soil Conditioner at Oil Palm

Abstract

Oil palm is a plantation crop that has great potential in Indonesia. The very rapid development of oil palm is due to the high economic value of this commodity. However, the handling and utilization of oil palm waste resulting from replanting is not optimal yet. Planting new seedlings is delayed because the decomposition process of oil palm stems from replanting takes a long time. One method of replanting uses a mulcher machine which produces mulches in the form of thin fibers and has different characteristics from other replanting methods. The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of the mulch from the chopping of oil palm stems using a mulcher, to learn the effect of oil palm stem mulch on soil conditioner in oil palm replanting land, and to determine the optimum heap thickness to maintain soil quality in oil palm replanting land. Oil palm stem mulch was composted for two months using the bin method. The application of oil palm stem mulch as a soil conditioner was carried out in different thickness treatment was 1 cm, 5 cm, 10 cm thickness and control. Oil palm stem compost chopped by mulcher has the characteristics as the quality of standard Indonesian compost and decomposed faster than other replanting methods. The results showed that at a soil depth of 0-5 cm, 5-10 cm, 10-15 cm and 15-20 cm, mulch with a thickness of 10 cm was the best treatment because it was able to increase the average value of soil moisture content respectively amounted to 28.22% and decreased the value of soil penetration resistance to 15.13 kgf/cm2 and and soil temperature 27.5°C respectively. The results of the compost fit in criteria of SNI:19-7030-2004, which is moisture content of 22.99%; density of mulch of 0.77 g/cm3; C-organic content of 10.72%; N-total of 0.7952%; mulch porosity of 70.3%; and C/N ratio of 13.48%.