EFFECTS OF APPLICATION OF BIOLOGICAL SOIL AMELIORANT AND REDUCTION OF INORGANIC FERTILIZERS DOSES ON GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF TOMATOES (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill)

Abstract

The current condition of agricultural land in Indonesia is getting less and less healthy, due to the dependence of farmers on agrochemicals. For this reason, it is necessary to use biological soil ameliorant to restore the ecological function of the soil. The purpose of this study was to explain the effect of the application of biological soil ameliorant and reduction of inorganic fertilizers doses on the growth, yield and quality of tomato. A field experiment was carried out in Merjosari Village, Lowokwaru District, Malang City. This experiment used a factorial randomized block design (RBD) where the factor I was the dose of the biological ameliorant which consisted of three levels, namely: without the biological ameliorant, 0.5, and 1 ml L-1. Factor II is the percentage reduction in the dose of inorganic fertilizer which consists of 4 levels, namely: 100%, 75%, 50% and 25% of the inorganic fertilizer dose. From these two factors there were 12 treatment combinations which were repeated three times to obtain 36 experimental plots. The variables observed included variables of plant growth, yield and fruit quality as measured by the Vitamin C content of tomato. Application of biological soil ameliorant with a concentration of 0.5 ml L-1 and 50% of recommended NPK fertilizer dose is able to provide plant growth and yields as high as the use of biological soil ameliorant  with  a concentration of 1 ml L-1 and a dose of 100% of recommended  NPK fertilizer dose. Average of  total weight fruit per plant and per hectare of the two treatments were 624.48 g plant-1 and 24.98 tons ha-1 and 431.97 g plant-1 and 17.28 tons ha-1. The vitamin C content of all treatments was not statistically significantly different except for the treatment using 1 ml L-1 water+100% of inorganic fertilizers dose which had the lowest vitamin C content.