The application of Azolla Liquid Fertilizer and Nitrogen Fertilizer on Yield and Quality of Spinach (Amaranthus sp.).
Suratno1, M. Asyim1, H. F. Rohman1, M. Z. Sukri1
State Polytechnic of Jember
Abstract
As a raw material for the food industry, spinach quality standards are considered both physical and chemical quality, including the nitrate contains. Nitrates that are consumed by humans will be very dangerous because can cause methaemoglobinemia. The nitrate content in spinach comes from the chemical nitrogen fertilizer used, while Azolla compost contains a lot of nitrogen, so the use of Azolla compost can replace nitrogen fertilizer and reduce the nitrate content of spinach. This study aims to determine the effect of Azolla liquid organic fertilizer concentration and nitrogen fertilizer on the growth, yield and quality of spinach, in order to obtain high quality spinach production both physically and chemically. The research used factorial randomized block design, Factor I: Azolla Liquid Organic Fertilizer (LOF) consisting of: A0 = No LOF, A1 = LOF 10 m/liter, A2 = LOF 20 ml/liter. Factor II: Urea fertilizer dosage of: U1 = Urea 50 kg/ha, U2 = Urea 100 kg/ha, U3 = Urea 150 kg/ha, U4 = Urea 200 kg/ha. The parameters observed were: 1) Plant height, 2) Number of leaves, 3) wet weight, 4) dry weight, 5) Plant weight, 6) Soil Analysis, 7) Analysis of Nitrate, 8) Analysis of Protein
Keywords: Azolla, nitrogen, nitrate, quality, spinach.
Topic: Organic Agriculture