Selected Macronutrient Uptake by Sweet Corn under Different Rates of Liquid Organic Fertilizer in Closed Agriculture System

Abstract

In the last few years, soil deterioration due to excessive application of synthetic agrochemical has become growing concern. Use of organic fertilizer is believed to be able to enhance soil quality. The objective of this experiment was to determine nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium uptakes by sweet corn as affected by local based liquid organic fertilizer (LOF) under closed agriculture system. The experiment was conducted in Closed Agriculture Production System (CAPS) Research Station in Air Duku Village, Bengkulu, Indonesia from March to June 2015, employing Randomized Completely Block Design with 2 factors. The first factor was 3 sweet corn genotypes, i.e. Talenta, Jambore, and Asian Honey and the second factor was 5 rates of LOF, i.e. 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 mg l-1, respectively. Each treatment combination was replicated 3 times. Foliar application of LOF was carried out every week at 2-8 weeks after planting (WAP) with total volume of 600 ml per plant. Sweet corn leaves were sampled at the beginning of tassel emergence. The experiment revealed that sweet corn genotype significantly influenced the uptake of nitrogen, but not phosphorus and potassium. It was observed that Asian Honey genotype absorbed highest nitrogen as compared to other genotypes. In addition, increase in rates of LOF significantly raised nitrogen uptake by sweet corn, but not phosphorus and potassium.