Utilization of Waste Silica and Chitosan as Fertilizer Nano Chisil to Improve Corn Production in Indonesia

Abstract

Silica is one of the non essential nutrients which can be found in some materials such as sand, quartz and glass. Silica is also found in waste products that can pollute the environment, even though Si is known as a beneficial element that protects plants from drought and pathogens without damaging the quality of land. For plants that accumulate Si such as the Gramineae, it can increase crop production and also be able to improve the physical properties of plants. Chitosan is a linear polysaccharide polymer that is commercially made from the shells of shrimp, crab and lobster which is a byproduct in the fishing industry so that the availability of raw material is abundant. Therefore, both the materials can be used to be used as fertilizer chitosan and silica (NanoChisil). This study aimed to determine the effects of Nanochisil fertilizers on the increasing growth of corn production in Indonesia. A common result of this analysis was, waste silica and chitosan can be reduced to fertilizer which can be used to reduce the use of NPK fertilizer and manure and can improve the productivity of food crops such as corn.