RICE GROWTH AND YIELD RESPONSE ON BIOFERTILIZER APPLICATION ON LATOSOL PADDY FIELD OF INDONESIA

Abstract

Rice is a main staple food in Indonesia. There is a major focus on how to increase production to meet the need of the 250 million Indonesian population without deteriorating environmental conditions. This study aimed to evaluate the biofertilizer dosing method on rice growth and yield trait of lowland rice in West Java latosol soil. The experiment was conducted at the greenhouse of the Indonesian Center for Agricultural Land Resources Research and Development (ICALRRD), Bogor, West Java, Indonesia from March to June 2018. Rice variety Inpari 32 as a new plant type, was used in this study. The treatments were arranged in a factorial randomized block design with two factors and three replications. The first factor was the method of biofertilizer application (seed treatment, root dipping prior to transplanting and sown at planting). The second factor the dosage of biofertilizer consisted of 1) 0 g/pot, 2) 100 g/pot, 3) 200 g/pot, 4) 300 g/pot, and 5) 400 g/pot. Latosol soil samples were obtained from Muara experimental station, Bogor, West Java. The results showed that root dipping method prior to transplanting with the biofertilizer as much as 300 g and 400 g/ha showed the best results in terms of filled grain number, filled grain weight, total grain number and total grain weight as compared to other combination treatments. The dosage of biofertilizer and its integrated application can become alternative recommendation to increase yield on lowland rice at latosol soil. The highest correlation value (r = 0.983) was observed between total grain weight and percent of filled grain number while the lowest correlation value (r = 0.008) was observed between 1000 grain weight and percent of filled grain number.