CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study Organic farming is a different sort of farming practice which is different from the conventional farming. Organic farming is carrying out in order to produce organic food that is better and healthy for consumptions (Mudhar undated). In organic farming everything is done naturally, natural fertilizer such as manure or compost to feed the soil and plants. To control pest and diseases only beneficial insects and birds, mating disruption or traps is used. But for conventional farming, chemical fertilizer is applying to promote plant growth. Insecticides and herbicides are used to control pest, diseases and to manage weeds (Mayor Clinic Staff 2008). Conventional farming mostly used chemical to growth plants, that the reasons why organic foods are more safety to human health and environmental friendly compare to the non organic food that can cause illness 1
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The Growth and Yield Performance of Brassica alboglabra (Chinese Kale) apply with difference rate of Vermicompost
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Organic farming is a different sort of farming practice which is different from
the conventional farming. Organic farming is carrying out in order to produce
organic food that is better and healthy for consumptions (Mudhar undated).
In organic farming everything is done naturally, natural fertilizer such as
manure or compost to feed the soil and plants. To control pest and diseases
only beneficial insects and birds, mating disruption or traps is used. But for
conventional farming, chemical fertilizer is applying to promote plant growth.
Insecticides and herbicides are used to control pest, diseases and to
manage weeds (Mayor Clinic Staff 2008).
Conventional farming mostly used chemical to growth plants, that the
reasons why organic foods are more safety to human health and
environmental friendly compare to the non organic food that can cause
illness and harmful to the human being, animals and also to the
environmental. Organic farming was not only found to work, but the products
arising from it are now considered as quality products. Farmers can obtain
higher prices for what they grow, and it is one of the few agricultural markets
where supply is never enough. It’s consumption in Europe show steadily and
rapidly increasing during the last 15 years (Calleja undated)
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Demand for organic foods in Malaysia is increasing but the problem is, to
produce organic foods more costly and the production or yields are less
compare to the non organic foods. Externalized environmental, health and
social costs make conventional agriculture products cheaper than organic
agriculture production. Production of organic fertilizer is not fully
commercialized yet and production rate is still low. Organic fertilizer meanly
came from animal waste such as cow dung, chicken dung and others. Many
studies have been conducted on the use of vermicompost for plant growth
(Atiyeh et al., 2000; Uma 2009; Edwards 2004). Thus the obvious problems
that call for research is how to devise an effective and alternative method to
cultivated plant in order to increase yield and give a better growth
performances but still safety to human health and also environmental
friendly. The vermicompost as one example of biofertilizer can be used to
solve this problem. In this study different level of vermicompost will be
applied as biofertilizer on chilies plant. The rates are 0g (served as a control)
350g, 400g, 450g, 500g and 550g per plants.
1.2 Objectives of the study
To investigate what is the best rate of vermicompost that give better yield
and growth performance of Chinese kale (Brassica alboglabra)
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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
The method of preparing compost with the help of earthworm as natural bioreactor
is known as vermicomposting. Vermicomposting is the breakdown of organic matter
by certain species of earthworms. The common worms used in vermicomposting are
called redworms (Eisenia foetida), also known as red wigglers, manure worms, red
hybrid or tiger worms. (Soni undated) Earthworm compost or vermicompost can be
produced from almost any kind of organic wastes with suitable processing and
controlled vermicomposting conditions. Vermicompost grown plant extremely well
and they can be used as structural additives or amendments for poorer soils to
provide nutrients and minimize soil erosion. (Edwards 2004)
There are several advantages of using vermicompost, it can improve the physical,
chemical and biological properties of the soil and better crop productivity.
The analysis of variance above show the pH result after the harvesting. Based on
the table, value of the P is 0.000 and this value is less than 0.05, therefore the H0 is
rejected and there is a significant difference in the number of pH for the each
treatment that is carried out in this study.
Figure 4.15 The chart of mean for pH
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CHAPTER 5
DISCUSSIONS
Organic farming systems with the aid of various nutrients of biological origin such as
vermicompost will be the answer for the food security and farm security in the future.
Among them compost that made by the earthworm or we called it as a
vermicompost is proving to be highly nutritive organic fertilizer, rich in micronutrients,
beneficial soil microbes and also contain plant growth hormone and enzyme.
Anonymous (2009) reported that vermicompost also significantly proven as a
miracle growth promoter and plant protector from pest and diseases.
These experiments, together with other reported in the literature, demonstrate that
vermicompost have considerable potential for improving plant growth significantly,
when used as fertilizer or used as a soil amendments. In this study 6 treatments with
different rate of vermicompost was prepared in order to know the best rate of
vermicompost that can promote plant growth and yield performance. The standard
that was used in this study based on the Negavallemma et al. (2004) that stated the
range of vermicompost that was applied as a fertilizer for the vegetables is between
400 - 500 gram per plant. Based on the result at the end of the study, treatment V4
with 500 gram of vermicompost show the better growth and yield performance in the
number of leaf, plant height, fresh weight, and also for the fresh weight of shoot and
root compare to the other treatments that show the fluctuation in the result for each
of the parameter that has been study.
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Treatment V1 and V2 show the highest number of leaf compared to the other
treatment but even treatment V1 and V2 has the highest number of leaf it not the
best rate than can promote the plant growth and yield because treatment V1 and V2
show the lowest number of plant height compared to the others treatment that
applied with vermicompost. The both treatment also has less fresh weight which
means it produce less yield. Based on my observation to the treatment V1 and V2,
even it has the highest number of leaf , the diameter of each leaf is more smaller
compared to the treatment V4 and V5 that make the both treatment less in fresh
weight.
Treatment V0 with no vermicompost added showed the lowest number of leaf and
also in terms of plant height. The yield produced also less and the growth of
Chinese kale for this treatment was stunted. This is because of the nutrient content
in the soil is not enough for the plant in treatment V0 to grow and in terms of bulk
density for V1 is also high. The pH value for treatment V1 also less than the other
treatment that applied with vermicompost and the optimum pH for the Chinese kale
to growth well is 5.4 and this will result in the lack growth performance.
Negavallemma et al. (2004) reported that greenhouse studies at Ohio State
University Columbus have indicated that vermicompost can enhance the transplant
growth rate of vegetables.
Although this study focuses more on the effects of vermicompost on plant growth
and yield performance rather than on the causes leading to these effects, my result
showed distinct differences for each treatment, high amount of vermicompost is not
100% influences the plants growth and this is proven by the treatment V3 that show
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the lowest in terms of number of leaf compared to the treatment V1 and V2 that has
less of amount of vermicompost. These things happen, not because of the
vermicompost itself but also the soil properties and the activity of microbial in the
soil. Even though the expected outcome for this study, is more vermicompost
applied will give better result in terms of plant growth and yield performances.
However in this study shows that growth performance improved until treatment V3
and start to decline when more vermicompost added as an V4 and V5. This result is
an accordance with founding by Aracon et al. (2003) where higher rate of
vermicompostmay result in decline in plant growth. This was obvious in Arancon et
al. (2003) experiment showing that yield of pepper from plant grown in pots with
60% and 80% vermicompost decreased significantly which could have been due to
either high soluble salt concentration, poor aeration, heavy metal toxicity, and plant
phytotoxicity in the undiluted vermicompost.
Cited from the Atiyeh et al., ; Goh and Haynes (1977) reported that plant growth is
generally optimized when the pH is between 5 and 6.5. From my result the pH
before the transplanting and after the harvesting show lowest than that, only
treatment V4 and V3 show the nearest pH optimized of plant growth, that why we
can see the plant height for the V4 and V3 is the highest compare to the other
treatment that has the lowest pH. This is due to pH improvementin treatment V3
and V4as shown in figure 4.14.
In conclusion, vermicompost have the potential for improving the plant growth and
yield performance when applied as a fertilizer. The optimum rate that gives a better
yield and plant growth in my study, which was conducted only over a short period of
time, was treatment V4 with 500 gram vermicompost
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.
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