Degraded Soil Can Serve as a Nyawai Nursery Medium with Compost and Rice Husk Charcoal

Image: article cover, from Danu and Dede (2019), Jurnal Wasian, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

The availability of fertile topsoil for nursery media is becoming increasingly limited. For this reason, a research team from the Forest Tree Seed Technology Research and Development Centre tested the use of degraded soil as a nursery medium for nyawai (Ficus variegata). The soil used was taken from severely eroded land in Rumpin Village, Rumpin District, Bogor Regency, West Java. The results of the study, published in the Jurnal Wasian, show that degraded soil can still be used provided it is mixed with organic matter and fertiliser.

The best mixture was 60 per cent degraded soil, 30 per cent compost and 10 per cent rice husk charcoal. This medium increased the height growth of nyawai seedlings by 30.60 per cent. The application of 1 gram of NPK fertiliser per polybag also increased seedling biomass by up to 6.21 grams. According to the study, the combination of the mixed medium and 1 gram of NPK fertiliser can serve as an alternative nursery medium for nyawai.

Nyawai is a tree species commonly planted by communities, including for land rehabilitation. This finding is important because seedling production no longer has to depend on fertile soil, which is increasingly difficult to obtain. Degraded land around villages can be utilised, while compost and rice husk charcoal are available from everyday materials at the farmer level.

Source and how to cite

This story is based on the research article Improving of Degraded Soil Quality for Ficus variegata Nursery Media by Adding Organic Matters and NPK Fertilizer by Danu Danu Danu and Dede Jajat Sudrajat Dede, published in Jurnal Wasian Vol. 6 No. 2 (2019). The full article is free to read on the Jurnal Wasian website.

Cite the original article (APA 7):

Danu, D. D., & Dede, D. J. S. (2019). Improving of Degraded Soil Quality for Ficus variegata Nursery Media by Adding Organic Matters and NPK Fertilizer. Jurnal Wasian, 6(2), 101–109. https://doi.org/10.62142/qkz14537

If you use these findings in coursework, a thesis or other writing, cite the original article above, not this news story. The original article is licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.