Effect of Banana Bark and Cow's Blood Meal Compost on the Green Lettuce Plants ( Lactuca sativa L.) Growth

ABSTRACT


Introduction
Compost is a solid organic fertilizer.The application of compost to plants can overcome the problem of soil degradation by affecting the physical and microbial properties of the soil and supplying nutrients to plants (Murnita and Taher, 2021).Knowledge about organic fertilizers has been around for a long time, but many farmers have switched to using inorganic fertilizers because they are more practical, easy to obtain and relatively cheap.The constant use of inorganic fertilizers over a long period of time without the use of organic fertilizers has a negative impact on the soil because it makes the nutrient content unbalanced, the nutrients absorbed become less than optimal, and the microbes contained in the soil become low (Marjannah et al., 2017).Therefore, the use of organic materials can help overcome the problems caused by the use of inorganic fertilizers.Organic materials that have potential as compost raw materials are banana pith and cow blood.
Leaf Area: Leaf area was measured using the gravimetric method.Leaf area was calculated using the formula  ℎ ()  ℎ ℎ ()   ℎ  () Chlorophyll: Chlorophyll content was measured using the spectrophotometric method.

Compost Content Analysis
The process of decomposing compost converts compounds that are still in the form of organic compounds into inorganic compounds/elements that can be absorbed by plants.At the beginning of composting, the odor released is slightly pungent, while at the end of composting there is no longer any odor released by the compost.Odorless compost indicates that the compost is mature.This is in line with Mulyono's (2014) statement, one of the ways to ensure that compost is ready to harvest is that it does not smell or have a smell like soil odor.
The color of the compost is initially reddish brown, as the composting process progresses, the compost eventually changes color to blackish brown.The color change also shows the characteristics of composting that goes well and the compost has matured.According to Suryati (2014), mature compost is characterized by a change in color to brown tending to blackish.The color change of compost can be seen in Figure 1.Tests of C, N, P, K were carried out to determine how much nutrients are contained in banana stump compost and cow blood flour.The results of compost nutrient analysis can be seen in Table 1.Based on the results of laboratory analysis of banana stump compost and cow blood flour (Table 1), the C-organic element is 41,77%.C-organic content during the composting process will decrease because it is influenced by microbial activity to be used as an energy source and others will be released in the form of CO 2 (Bachtiar, 2016).N-Total analysis resulted in a value of 6,92%.The increase in nitrogen during the decomposition process is caused by microbial activity that converts ammonia into nitrite (NO 2 -) (Ratna et al., 2017).Nitrogen plays an important role for plants for the photosynthesis process (Hajama, 2014).P-Total analysis resulted in a value of 0,09%.Phosphorus elements are mostly used by microbes for metabolic processes.This is supported by the statement of Suswardany et al. (2006), which states that during the composting process half of the phosphorus element is used by microbes to make egg white substances in their bodies.And the K -Total analysis showed a value of 0,12%.The low K-Total result is due to the factor of stirring the compost too often so that the potassium content decreases.According to Maesaroh et al. (2014), the length of time stirring affects the potassium element produced because the potassium element that has been bound can be released again.

Vegetative growth parameters
The growth of green lettuce plants (Lactuca sativa L.) observed was vegetative growth, including plant height (cm), number of leaves (leaf), plant wet weight (g), root weight (g), root length (cm), leaf area (cm 2 ) and chlorophyll levels (mg/L).Organic fertilizers contain macro nutrients N, P, K which play an important role during plant growth and development (Lingga and Marsono, 2013).The following presents the results of the mean difference test of the growth parameters of green lettuce plants as listed in Table 2.During the growth, plants require nitrogen in large quantities, nitrogen as the formation of chlorophyll and as a form of chlorophyll and nucleic acid has an important role in cell division and elongation so as to increase the height of the plants obtained (Rohmandoni, 2021).Organic matter containing the appropriate nitrogen element has a significant effect on the growth of plant height and branches (Pamungkas and Supijatno, 2017).Based on Table 2, all growth parameters treated with treatment A (60 gram compost) showed the best results.Plant height produced the highest average of 26,80 cm.This means that plants can absorb nutrients well.According to Fajarditta et al. (2012), the amount of dosage affects the absorption of nutrients by plants.The element that plays a role in increasing plant growth is nitrogen.Nitrogen is absorbed in the form of nitrate ions (NO 3 -).Nitrate is captured by root hairs during the process of anion respiration and collected in vacuoles which are later broken down into ammonia (NH 3 ) for use by plants (Lusiana, 2015).Nitrogen functions in the formation of proteins so that metabolic processes can run and spur cells to divide and elongate, so that the stem can increase in height (Sayekti et al., 2016).
The number of leaves produced the highest average of 10,60 leaves.The results showed that the lower the dose of compost given, the greater the average height of green lettuce plants.This means that lower doses can fulfill the need for nutrients for root absorption in the soil to the leaves.This is in line with the statement of Cahyono and Tripama (2015), the absorption of nutrients by plants is directly related to the number of leaves.Nitrogen plays a role in the process of leaf formation.Sufficient nitrogen elements will encourage vegetative growth of plants, one of which is the leaves, especially the formation of chlorophyll to carry out photosynthesis (Haryadi et al., 2015).Chlorophyll is used for the photosynthesis process so that if the N element is sufficient, chlorophyll can increase.The process of photosynthesis is influential because it produces carbohydrates that are used by plants for the process of increasing the number of leaves due to the process of division, increase and enlargement of cell size (Hartadi et al., 1997).The results of research by Gustina et al. (2021), showed that the treatment of liquid organic fertilizer with a combination of banana peel and stem at a concentration of 70 mL produced 11 curly lettuce leaves, more than the control.
Wet weight of plants produces the highest average of 22,40 g.The increase in wet weight is influenced by nutrients that are balanced and meet the needs of green lettuce plants so that it affects its vegetative growth, and can increase the availability of nutrients needed to form organic compounds.According to Laksono (2014), nitrogen nutrient content plays an important role for metabolic processes because it is used for the formation of components such as proteins, enzymes, hormones and carbohydrates so that tissues can perform cell division for bud formation, root and leaf growth which will affect the wet weight of plants.
Root weight is influenced by nutrients and water content contained in the plant, because it is a determinant of the high and low weight of plant roots.Nutrients that play a role in determining the weight of plant roots are potassium (K) and phosphorus (P).The absorption of these elements into the plant roots is through the diffusion of high concentrations of nutrients to the root surface.The element K plays a role in increasing the growth and development of root branches by affecting the absorption capacity of plants (Ahmad et al., 2016).P element plays a role in the process of formation and existence of roots (Nurhaeni et al., 2020).Root weight produced the highest average of 0,57 g.This shows that the roots in treatment A have a good ability to absorb the nutrients needed so as to increase cell size.The absorption of these elements to the plant roots through diffusion events from high concentrations of nutrients to the root surface.Potassium plays a role in increasing the growth and development of root branches by affecting plant absorption (Ahmad et al., 2016).The highest increase in root weight was due to the good ability of the roots to absorb the nutrients needed so as to increase cell size, on the other hand, the decrease in wet weight was due to the provision of doses that were too high, which affected the decrease in the ability of the roots to absorb nutrients.The ability of the roots to absorb nutrients.According to Isrun (2010), loose soil is also influential because it allows the roots to develop well so that it affects the root weight.The increase in root wet weight is influenced by the physical properties of the soil.Another statement from Sertua et al. ( 2014), states that loose soil due to the provision of compost with organic materials can increase the value of root wet weight.
Root length is an important parameter related to the growth of other parts of the plant that illustrates the absorption of nutrients (Gardner et al., 1991).The length of plant roots is influenced by the nature of the soil media, so that the absorption of nutrients in the process of preparing complex compounds (assimilation) which will be used by the roots to stimulate better root growth (Muhadiansyah et al., 2016).Root length produced the highest average of 10,92 cm.The results show that the ability of plants to absorb nutrients in treatment A is better than other treatments.Root length is an important parameter related to the growth of other parts of the plant that illustrates the absorption of nutrients (Gardner et al., 1991).The ability of plants to absorb nutrients has an impact on the movement of ions from the roots to the meristem tissue so that it determines whether the metabolic process is going well or not.The nutrient that plays a role in root length increase is potassium (K), because it plays a role in the process of young tissue division and stimulates root formation (Ahmad et al., 2016).Potassium helps spread photosynthesis products from leaves to roots and stores energy for root growth.In addition, it also supports the running of metabolic processes and cell elongation (Satriawi, 2019).The element phosphorus (P) contained in compost is used by plants as a basic material for the manufacture of proteins and assimilates that form roots (Muhadiansyah et al., 2016).
Leaf area is an illustration of the total area of plant leaves.The growth of plant parts such as leaf area is related to the nutrient nitrogen (N).According to Kardin (2013), the availability of N affects the growth and expansion of the leaf surface.In addition to the element N, there is also the element potassium (K) which plays a role in influencing young tissue to continue to divide so that it affects the leaf area (Satria et al., 2015).Leaf area produced the highest average of 130,06 cm 2 .The increase in the average produced by treatment A (dose of 60 g) is due to the dose of compost given according to the needs of green lettuce plants.This is in line with the opinion of Hariyanto (2006), the appropriate organic material can improve the chemical, physical and biological quality of the soil so that the roots can absorb nutrients well and spread them to all parts of the plant and produce the best vegetative growth.Fariudin et al. (2011) stated that the amount of leaf area value obtained indicates that the photosynthesis process runs smoothly and produces large amounts of chlorophyll.
Chlorophyll is the green substance of leaves.Leaf chlorophyll levels are influenced by the nutrient nitrogen (N).The element nitrogen (N) helps in the photosynthesis process in the leaves.The higher the solubility level of fertilizer, the easier it is to be absorbed by plant roots which has an impact on increasing the amount of chlorophyll produced (Ajiningrum, 2018).Chlorophyll A produced the highest average of 0,19 mg/L.Different results in all treatments are caused by pigmentation factors in leaves that are not the same as each other and the influence of plant adaptation to the environment.Plant leaf area works to capture light for the photosynthesis process to affect the amount of leaf chlorophyll.This is in accordance with the opinion of Setiawati et al. (2016), stating that chlorophyll is influenced by the amount of pigmentation and leaf surface area.Leaf chlorophyll levels are influenced by the nutrient nitrogen (N).The element nitrogen (N) helps in the process of photosynthesis in the leaves.The higher the level of fertilizer solubility, the easier it is to be absorbed by plant roots, which has an impact on increasing the amount of chlorophyll produced (Ajiningrum, 2018).
Abiotic factors observed during the study included air temperature, humidity, sunlight intensity and soil pH.Favorable abiotic factors will produce ideal plant growth.The following are the results of abiotic measurements during the treatment period which were observed every day as shown in Table 3.Based on observations in the artificial greenhouse environment, the meets the requirements for the growth of green lettuce plants.This is supported by the statement of Adimihardja et al. (2013), which states that lettuce plants grow well in the highlands at an altitude of 500-2000 meters above sea level.Lettuce plants grow well in the highlands at an altitude of 500-2000 meters above sea level, with air and soil humidity above 60%, soil pH between 6,5-7 and temperature between 15-25°C.

Conclusion
Based on the study of the results of this research, it can be concluded that banana stump compost and cow blood flour contain nutrients such as C by 41,77%, Total N by 6,92%, Total P by 0,09%, Total K by 0,12% and treatment A (dose of 60 gram) showed the highest results on the growth parameters of green lettuce plants including plant height, number of leaves, wet weight, root weight, root length, leaf area and leaf chlorophyll.

Table 1 .
Results of nutrient analysis of banana stump compost and sapi blood meal

Table 2 .
Mean difference test results for all growth parameters of green lettuce plants (Lactuca sativa L.) Note: K= control (no treatment); A = dose of 60 gram; B = dose of 120 gram; C = dose of 180 gram a-b-c: The same letter notation indicates that there is no significant difference based on the 5% DMRT test level.