THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ORGANIC FERTILIZATION IN IMPROVING THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SOIL

Low sodl fertinty and dry climate are factors that cause concern for farmers to cultivate mustard plants in the area. It is hoped that the improvement of the physical and chemical properties of the soil with the addition of nitrogen and vermicompost fertilizer will enable the successful cultivation of mustard plants in Nusa Lembongan.

An experiment was carried out in the field in the dry land of

Jungutbatu village, Nusa Lembongan, Klungkung, Bali, to

study the effect of nitrogen dose and vermicompost on the growth and yield of mustard greens. The results of this experiment showed that the interaction between the dose of N and vermicompost had a very significant effect on plant height at 21 and 28 DAP, leaf area index at 14, 21 and 35 DAP, fresh and oven-dried plant weight total ha-1.

Treatment of 138 kg N ha' with 25 t of vermicompost ha gave the highest total fresh and oven dry plant weight ha (238.52 and 12.53 t ha-l, respectively). In this experiment, the optimum dose of N and vermicompost was not obtained. The relationship between the dose of N and vermicompost with the weight of fresh and oven-dried plants total ha was linear.

The addition of N and vermicompost fertilizer increased leaf N content, levels of C-organic and N-total soil and improve soil physical properties. In this study, the optimum dose of both N and vermicompost was not obtained. From the results of this study, it can be suggested to use a dose of >138 kg N ha-1 with >25 t vermicompost ha-1 to obtain high green mustard yields on land with conditions similar to this experiment in the Nusa Lembongan area.