Attack Intensity of Plutella Xylostella Pests and Yield of Cabbage (Brassica oleraceae L. var. Capitata) Due to Application of Vermicompost with Additive of Papaya Leaf and Its Mixture

Abstract

The use of organic pesticides in plant cultivation systems is still limited, this is due to the relatively low content of active ingredients in organic pesticides. Thus, it needs application techniques more effective, especially in organic farming system. This study aimed to determine the effect of vermicompost application with papaya leaf additive and its mixture on attack intensity of Plutella xylostella pest and the yield of cabbage and to determine the effect of the intensity of P. xylostella pest on cabbage crop. This research was a pot experiment carried out in the greenhouse of the Faculty of Agriculture, University Islamic of Malang. The experimental design used is Randomized Block Design with 10 treatments namely P0 (without vermicompost + without pest controll), P1 (chemical fertilizer +pesticides), P2-P9 used vermicompost with papaya additives and its mixtures with the other organic pesticide from plant. There were two application methods of vermicompost. The first one was incorporated in to the growing media and the second one is incorporated and sprayed as liquid organic fertilizer.  The observed variables were attack intensity of P. xylostella and crop yield. The application of vermicompost with papaya leaf additives and mixture significantly (P<0,05) influenced the attack intensity of P.xylostella and crop yield. The P7 treatment (vermicompost with additives of  papaya + Titonia leaves which incorporated into the growing media and sprayed as liquid organic fertilizer) tends to give the best crop yield and the lowest pest attack intensity with fresh weight of total biomass by 476,08 g per plant and average pest attack by 21.73%. The higher the attack intensity of P.xylostella, the lower the crop yield with the corelation coefficient (r) = 0.64.