Effect bulking agent on composting mexican sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia L) biomass and utilization on pak choi production

Abstract

Mexican  sunflower or paitan in Indonesian (Thitonia diversifolia L) is a weed with high biomass production  with   nutrient quality that potentially use as composting material. However, there were problem for for optimize composting process due to  low C/N ratio and high moisture content of this material. Therefore co-composting with higher C/N ratio and low moisture bulking materials to attain a proper composting process.  Research to   (1) Evaluate  the effect  of raw rice husk (RRH) and rice husk charcoal (RHC) as bulking agent on quality of compost T.diversifolia. Two composting mixture were    TRRH = biomass T. Diversifolia + raw rice husk and TRHC = T. diversifolia biomass + rice husk biochar. Data were analyzed descriptively and compared with  National Standards of Organic Fertilizer SNI 19-7030-2004. (2) To Compare the  effect TRRH and TRHC compost on growth and yield of pakchoi (Brassica rapa var chinensis). Plant height, number of leaves, leaf area, edible and total fresh weight and N uptake analyzed with ANOVA  and mean diference with Tukey/HSD test. The results showed that (1) T.diversifolia L compost has nutritional quality of N, P, K in accordance with SNI 19-7030-2004,  but the levels of N, P and K in TRHC > TRRH. (2) TTRH.40 planting media gave maximum  growth and yield of pakchoy compared to other treatments. The study confirms that composting T.diversifolia L biomass were potential to enhance pakchoi production while promoting cultivation of vegetables for food security.