By Frans Fredy Kalikit Bara
Plants and humans are the living beings. Humans need four perfect five healthy foods, and so plants need nutrients for maximum growth. The process of providing horticultural plant nutrition is divided into two phases, namely vegetative phase and generative phase.
Simple definition of nutrients is foods, vitamins needed by living beings. There are several characteristics that are seen when horticultural crops are malnourished, namely stunted growth, plants will be easily affected by diseases leading to crop failure, the appearance of curly leaves and yellow color.
The
discussion (11/28/2020) with this material was attended by eleven students. The
atmosphere of this discussion is quite interesting because there is very active
communication between presenters and participants. Participants asked many
questions because this material is a basic science used to answer agricultural
problems related to nutrition. The participants had different educational
backgrounds so this material was new and useful. Although the educational
background is different, they have a farmer's family background, therefore the
explanation presented is considered important. Another interesting activity is visiting
the horticultural farmland in the area near Laipori beach facilitated by
professional farmers named Welem.
Horticultural plants need macro and micronutrients. Macronutrients include; 1) Nitrogen, for the growth of leaves, roots and stems, part of green leaves for photosynthesis. The old leaves of Nitrogen-deficient plants will look completely yellow; 2) Phosphorus, useful to spur root growth, sprouts, flowers and fruits. Horticultural plants that lack phosphorus will dwarf, short stem segments, black tips and edges of leaves, and the edges of the leaves are curved down starting from old leaves; 3) Potassium, strengthening the cell wall to survive form disease attack. Plants with less potassium will have inhibited growth, small leaves size with dark greenish, the edges leaves are brown and falling leaves. 4) Calcium, serves to spur the growth of plant root tips and to strengthen cell walls. Plants that lack calcium will have no roots growth, root tips are weak, the shape of the leaves are changing.
The secondary nutrients that plants need are: 1) Magnesium, as the main ingredient of chlorophyll formation. Plants that lack magnesium will have yellow leaves starting from the old leaves though the bones of the leaves remain green. 2) Sulfur is part of proteins, cell-forming materials, organs and plant tissues. There are several types of micronutrients, namely iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), boron (B), Molybdenum (Mo), and Chlor (Cl).
The availability of nutrients in the soil needs to be considered important by farmers. Planting patterns focused on one plant tend to reduce the amount of nutrients in the soil, so crop rotation needs to be done to maintain the availability of these nutrients. Examples of crop rotation that can be done are first, from rice fields to horticultural crops type of beans or second, from tomatoes to legumes. In addition, farmers need to sow manure on land before planting. Have a good practice.***
Comments
Post a Comment