Indonesia Conference Directory

To reduce the dependence of bulbs as planting material, the technology innovation of shallot (Allium cepa var. ascalonicum) cultivation was tried by using true shallot seed (TSS) as planting material with a dense planting system. Four true seed varieties were planted at low and dry land of Malaka District, NTT Province, Indonesia. This district is one of the border areas between Indonesia and Democratic Republic of Timor Leste, where the conditions of its farmers have not yet mastered on the technology of planting shallots using this method. The research was conducted in Laleten Village, Malaka District, from April to December 2018. Randomized block design with four treatments of TSS varieties and three replications was used. TSS seedlings were planted with a 10x15 cm planting spacing, so that a 30 m2 size plot contained 2,000 plants. The analysis of variance showed significant difference among the treatments at p<0.05. The aim of this research was to examine the method of planting shallots by using TSS as planting material in areas where farmers have never carried out such technology. The results showed that the growth of plant height in Bima Brebes, Trisula, Tuk Tuk and Sanren varieties until the age of 6 weeks after transplanting (WAT) was not significantly different, with an average height was reaching 40-46 cm and the number of leaves was 10-11. Percentages of plants that developed and produced normally range from 70-75% of the total population, which the highest was Trisula. The average bulbs number plant-1 in Bima Brebes variety was 3.1 and significantly different from Tuk Tuk (1.6). This may due to its genetic characteristic, which 97% of Tuk Tuk bulbs performance were being single, whereas in Bima Brebes the single and splitting-to be two bulbs were reached 48.2% and 46% respectively. The number and fresh bulbs weight bed-1 ranged from 2,293 – 4,601 bulbs and 19.8 – 31.5 kgs which the highest and lowest amounts were in Bima Brebes and Tuk Tuk respectively. Weight loss after 3 months of storage was significantly different between varieties, which reached 48-65%, and driest bulbs was Tuk Tuk. In this area, the estimated of fresh weight bulbs production per hectare reached only 5.28 and 6.05 tons for Tuk Tuk and Sanren, while the rest were 8.41 and 7,97 tons for Bima Brebes and Trisula respectively. It means that in the dry conditions with farmers who have not mastered yet on the technology of shallot cultivation by using TSS as planting material, the productivity of these plants only reaches 20-40% of their optimal production capacity.