The implementation of sustainable urban agriculture: response of mustard (Brassica juncea L.) towards planting media composition of top soil, biochar and manure at vertical farming
¹Papua University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture, Jl. Gunung Salju Amban Manokwari, 98314 Papua Barat, Indonesia
²Papua University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil and Land Resources Conservation, Jl. Gunung Salju Amban Manokwari, 98314 Papua Barat, Indonesia
*Correspondence: syaranamualsiska@gmail.com
Abstract:
The study investigates the growth and yield response of mustard to different planting media of soil, biochar, and manure as planting media, within a vertical cultivation technique. Three-month research was carried out at the Screen House of Agroclimatology Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Papua University, employing a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four treatments and triplicates. The results of the analysis of variance revealed that at 2 weeks after planting (WAP) period demonstrated a statistically significant effect of growing media composition on mustard height. Notably, Soil:Biochar (M1) treatment exhibited the highest plant height, surpassing Soil:Biochar:Manure (M3) treatment. Although biochar addition had an insignificant effect compared to control (M0) and Soil:Manure (M2) treatments, Soil: Biochar still achieved the greatest height. Further significance tests revealed that Soil:Biochar treatment recorded the longest leaf length, a measure not significantly different from Soil:Manure and Soil:Biochar:Manure treatments, but notably different from control which produced the shortest leaf length. Moreover, the Soil:Manure treatment presented the highest yield in terms of plant fresh weight compared to other treatments. While Soil:Biochar and Soil:Biochar:Manure treatments did not show statistical differences, their results were higher than control. In conclusion, the Soil:Manure treatment displayed the highest yield for plant dry weight and total plant weight per pot compared to other treatments, where control consistently performed the lowest. These findings underscore the efficacy of the Soil: Manure treatment in optimizing mustard growth and yield within a vertical cultivation system.
Key words:
biochar, manure, mustard, planting media, urban agriculture, verticulture