GROWTH AND YIELD RESPONSE OF OKRA TO THE APPLICATION OF WOOD ASH AND NPK FERTILIZER ON ALLUVIAL SOIL

Abstract

The okra plant is a vegetable commodity that has high economic value and is generally cultivated by the community. To increase okra production, you can expand the planting area by using alluvial soil as a plant growing medium. Alluvial soil has unfavorable chemical properties, such as low pH and lack of nutrient availability for plants. This research aims to determine the best interaction dose between wood ash and NPK fertilizer in increasing the growth and yield of okra plants on alluvial soil. This research was carried out at the experimental field of the Faculty of Agriculture, Tanjungpura University, Pontianak City, from 13 May to 07 July. The research method used a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with two factors, namely wood ash (A) with 3 treatment levels and NPK fertilizer (N) with 3 treatment levels. There were 3 replications in this study, with a total of 108 plants sampled. Wood ash treatment factors, namely a1 = 2.5 tonnes/ha wood ash equivalent to 12.5 g/polybag, a2 = 5.1 tonnes/ha wood ash equivalent to 25.5 g/polybag, a3 = 7.6 tonnes /ha of wood ash is equivalent to 38 g/polybag. Meanwhile, the NPK fertilizer treatment factor (N) consists of n1 = 300 kg/ha NPK fertilizer equivalent to 7.5 g/plant, n2 = 400 kg/ha NPK fertilizer equivalent to 10 g/plant, and n3 = 500 kg/ha fertilizer NPK is equivalent to 12.5 g/plant. The variables observed included plant height, root volume, leaf area, dry weight, number of fruit per plant, fruit weight per fruit, and weight per fruit. The results showed that the application of wood ash and NPK fertilizer, as well as interactions in alluvial soil, did not have a significant effect on all observed variables. This indicates the need for further research to identify other factors that can increase okra production on alluvial soils.