PENGARUH KOMPOSISI DAN BAHAN MEDIA TERHADAP PERTUMBUHAN SEMAI PINUS (Pinus merkusii)

Abstract

Physical and chemical properties of the medium, especially porosity and nutrients availability, are required to produce good quality seedlings of pine (Pinus merkusii Jungh et de Vries). Fresh leaves and leaf litter of pine could potentially be used to produce medium which meet those requirements. The objective of this research was to clarify the effect of composition and materials of medium on the growth of pine seedlings. The experiment used a factorial randomized block design with two factors and three blocks as replications. The first factor (A) was pine leaf materials, i.e. coarsely ground fresh leaves, coarsely ground leaf litter and finely ground leaf litter. The second factor (B) was composition of organic fertilizer (cow dung) and soil, i.e. each 45%, 35%, 25% and 15%. Nested analysis of variance was used to analyze the obtained data. Parameters measured were N content and C/N ratio of the medium, and growth of the seedlings. The highest seedling growth of pine was obtained at the composition medium of 35% organic fertilizer, 35% soil and 30% coarsely ground fresh leaves (B2A3). The material of coarsely ground fresh leaves had highest N content and lowest C/N ratio, and it had highest seedlings growth. The medium composition of B2A3 was recommended to be used as growth medium to produce pine seedlings.