APLIKASI PUPUK KALIUM TERHADAP PERTUMBUHAN DAN PRODUKSI TANAMAN CABAI MERAH BESAR (Capsicum annuum L.)

Abstract

Production of large red chilies for the last five years has decreased and increased based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics of Jember Regency (2020). The lack of stability in the production of large red chilies is caused by many factors including, harvested area, flower loss, pest attacks and land conditions. From these various factors, flower loss is one of the factors that greatly affects the production of large red chili plants, resulting in low quality and quality of large red chilies. One of the efforts to deal with the loss of flowers and large red chilies is to use potassium fertilizer. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of potassium fertilizer on the growth and production of large red chili (Capsicum annuum L.). This research was carried out from August to November 2021 at the Jember State Polytechnic land. The results of the application of 6 grams of potassium fertilizer per plant in the cultivation of large red chilies had a very significant effect on the parameters of the number of flowers that became fruit and had a significant effect on the parameters of plant height from 1 to 5 WAP, number of fruits per sample, fruit weight per sample, number of damaged fruit, and damaged fruit weight. Meanwhile, for plant height parameters from 6 to 9 WAP, flower appearance, fruit length, and fruit diameter were not significantly different. Based on the results of the analysis of farming on large red chili cultivation with potassium fertilizer treatment, it was declared feasible to cultivate because the R/C Ratio value > 1.