The effect of growth media and fertilizer dosage on the growth of ramin seedlings in Permanent Nursery of Sukomoro, South Sumatra

Abstract

Mawazin. 2017. The effect of growth media and fertilizer dosage on the growth of ramin seedlings in Permanent Nursery of Sukomoro, South Sumatra. Pros Sem Nas Masy Biodiv Indon 3: 390-395. Ramin (Gonystylus bancanus (Miq.) Kurz.) is a commercial tree species which grows naturally in peat swamp forest of Indonesia and Malaysia. In Indonesia, this species grows in the provinces of Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West and Central Kalimantan. This species grows relatively slower compared to other forest tree species, therefore require much longer time to grow until mature stage. Growth from seed to seedling stage and from cutting to rooting stage is also slow including until their being transplanted into the field. Timeframe is therefore critical to prepare planting meterials for ramin mass planting activities. In order to promote the growth various approaches need to be taken. This experiment is aimed to obtain the most suitable growing media and dosage of growth promotor “Growmore” to accelerate the growth of ramin seelings in the nursery. Design used was randomized complete design consisting of two factors, growing media and dosage of growth promotor. Results revealed that growth media did not show significant effect to the growth at the age of 3 and 12 months after application in the nursery, as well as the dosage of growth promotor for the age of 3 months. However, the dosage showed significant effect to the growth 12 months after the growth promotor application. This findings, however, requires further experiment using relatively large number of samples.