Effect of fertilizer application and plant density on physiological aspect and yield of taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott var. Antiquorum)

Abstract

A research was conducted to study the effect of nitrogen and potassium (NK) fertilizers and plant density on the growth and yield of taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott var. Antiquorum). The field experiment was carried out at Brawijaya University experimental field station located at Jatikerto, Malang, Indonesia. The experimental treatments consist of three plant density (18,000, 24,000 and 30,000 ha G-1) and three levels of NK fertilizer (62.50 kg N, 81 kg K2O, 125 kg N, 162 kg K2O, 187.50 kg N, 243 kg K2O ha G-1). These treatments were arranged in a split plot design; fertilizer in the subplot and plant density in the main plot with three replications. The F-value (p = 0.05) was used to test the treatment effect and Least Significant Different (LSD) (p = 0.05) was used to test the difference between treatments. The results showed that there was no interaction between NK fertilization and plant density for most of the parameters. Plant density only significantly influenced the number of tubers per plant and starch content. The optimum application rate of NK fertilizers was obtained as 127.04 kg N ha G-1 and 164.64 kg K2O ha G-1 with the tuber yield of 16.72 t ha G-1. The highest starch content (28.36%) achieved at the application rate of 127.84 kg N haG1 and 162.08 kg K2O ha G-1.