Engineering Reclaimed Soil Media Using Compost and Liquid Organic Fertilizer from Household Waste for the Growth of Pulai Plants (Alstonia scholaris)

Abstract

This study aims to engineer reclaimed land from a former coal mine using compost and liquid organic fertilizer derived from household waste to enhance the growth of Pulai trees (Alstonia scholaris). The experiment employed a 4 × 5 factorial completely randomized design, consisting of two factors: the first factor was the mixture of mine soil and compost, and the second factor was the liquid organic fertilizer. The first factor consists of four levels of mine soil and compost mixtures (1: 0, 1: 1, 1: 2, and 1: 3), while the second factor consists of five levels of liquid organic fertilizer doses (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%) with 10 replications. The observed parameters included survival rate, plant height, number of leaves, and stem diameter of pulai plants up to 4 months of age. The results showed that the application of compost and liquid organic fertilizer significantly influenced the growth of pulai plants up to 4 months of age. All treatment combinations exhibited a 100% survival rate. The highest plant height and diameter were recorded in treatment A2B5 (50% reclaimed soil: 50% compost and 40% liquid organic fertilizer) with values of 73.10 cm for height and 10.85 mm for diameter. The highest increase in the number of leaves occurred in treatment A3B5 at 27.80 leaves. The results of the interaction test between compost and liquid organic fertilizer were found to have a significant effect on the height and diameter of pulai plants, as well as a significant effect on the increase in the number of leaves. This study shows that the optimal combination of compost and liquid organic fertilizer from household waste in treatment A2B5 supports the increase in height, diameter, and number of leaves up to 4 months of age. Keywords: Pulai; Reclaimed Land; Compost; Liquid Organic Fertilizer