Padi Sawah is a type of grass that is
typically grown in tropical countries that have high amounts of annual
rainfall. It is grown so that its seeds, rice can be obtained for human
consumption. It normally requires a waterlogged environment to grow well along
with plenty of sunlight.
In this study, padi sawah is planted in 5 pots each
filled with different soils and each pot are watered with the same amount of
water but each week the watering frequency decreases. This is to determine
whether soil type and amount of water can affect the growth of padi sawah. Besides that, soil pH,
nutrient levels along with heavy metal content are also determined so that a
thorough experiment can be conducted.
The texture of the soil is
obtained by conducting the Jar Test and Sieve Analysis Test. However, the
results from the Jar Test and Sieve Analysis Test does not correlate with each
other. For example, soil A which contains soil from Mengkabong is classified as
clay loam soil based on the Jar Test but with the results of Sieve Analysis
Test is classified as loamy sand soil. This is also the same with soils B(Kg E
Parking Lot), D(FSSA Garden), and E(1Borneo). Only the soil texture of soil C
are the same based on Jar Test and Sieve Analysis Test which is loamy sand. Of
the 5 soils used in this study, soil B(Kg. E Parking Lot) has the lowest soil
pH at 3.47 using the pH meter whereas the highest soil pH is soil D(1Borneo) with
a pH value of 6.18. As for the water holding capacity of soils, the highest is
soil A which is Mengkabong soil while the soil with lowest water holding
capacity is soil B(Kg E Parking Lot). The soil with the highest amount of
nitrate is soil D(FSSA Garden), highest concentration of phosphate is soils D
as well while soil A(Mengkabong) has the highest concentration of sulphates.
Out of the 5 soils, the soil
that produced the highest plant is soil D(FSSA Garden). This could be due to its
high clay content as well as low soil pH as these two factors contribute
greatly to the growth of paddy plants. Meanwhile, the soil that is least
suitable to grow paddy plants is Mengkabong soil as no paddy plants managed to
germinate from the soil. But the soil that has the shortest paddy plant is soil
E(1Borneo). This is caused by the high sand content of the soil as well as low
phosphate concentration. Phosphorus is vital to plant growth as it is a
component in nucleic acid structure, therefore without phosphorus the plant
cannot increase the amount of cells contained within.
In conclusion, this study shows
that soil texture, pH as well as nutrient concentration plays a vital role in
the growth of paddy plants. Paddy plants grow best in clayey soils with low pH.
No comments:
Post a Comment