Morphology and Forage Dry Matter Yield Performance of Elephant and Para Grasses in Coastal Area Fertilized by Organic Fertilizer and Two Levels of Urea

Abstract

The experiment was aimed to investigate the effect of organic fertilizer and two level of urea on the morphology character and forage yield of Elephant and Para grasses in coastal soil of Jerakah Tugu District Semarang City. A completely randomized design in series experiment 4 x 2, with 3 replications were used to arrange the experiment. The first factor consisted of four kinds of fertilizer applied, namely : T0 as control (no added fertilizer), T1 : 30 kg N ha-1 cutting-1 as urea, T2 : 60 kg N ha-1 cutting-1 as urea, and T3 : organic fertilizer equal to 1,21 C-soil organic. The second factors were kinds of grasses, namely : R1 : Elephant grass, and R2 : Para grass, R2). Results of the study showed that there were significantly (P<0,05) effect of fertilizer treatment on the morphology character of plant height and dry matter forage yield of Elephant and Para grasses. Plant height of T3 was heigher (P<0,05) than that of T2, T1 and T0. The dry matter yield of T3 was higher (P<0,05) than that of T1 and T0, but dry matter yield of T3 was similar to that of T2. Therefore, the organic fertilizer at T3 could be recommended to be applied on coastal soil. Keywords : Elepahant grass, Para grasses, organic fertilizer, coastal soil