RESEARCH ARTICLE


Curative Activity of Watery Fermented Compost Extract as a Bark Treatment against Tapping Panel Dryness



Suwandi Suwandi*, Armi Junita, Suparman Suparman, Abu Umayah, Harman Hamidson, A Muslim, Chandra Irsan
Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Sriwijaya University, Palembang, Indonesia


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Creative Commons License
© 2018 Suwandi et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Sriwijaya University, Jl. Palembang-Prabumulih Km.32 Indralaya, Palembang 30662, Indonesia; Tel: +628127880446; E-mails: suwandi@fp.unsri.ac.id, suwandi.saleh@gmail.com


Abstract

Background:

Tapping panel dryness (TPD) is a stress-related disorder that afflicts rubber trees, contributing to yield losses in nearly every rubber-growing region.

Method:

We demonstrated the curative effects of biostimulants containing a fermented watery extract of shrimp waste-enriched compost (SWCE) on TPD in field trials. Undiluted SWCE was applied to lightly scraped bark in the first, third, and fourth trials, and applied directly without bark scraping in the second trial.

Results:

Bark treatment significantly (p < 0.05) reduced tapping cut dryness and increased latex yield, suggesting recovery from the disorder. When SWCE was applied to pre-scraped bark, 80% and 30% of trees with partial and complete TPD, respectively, recovered from tapping dryness within 2 months. The latex dry weight of treated trees with partial and complete TPD was 77.5% and 21.1% that of healthy trees, respectively. We observed slight recovery from TPD in trees treated without bark scraping and in trees with a history of ethephon stimulation. No curative effect of SWCE was demonstrated in treated trees without a tapping rest period. These findings suggest that compost extract could be a useful treatment for partial TPD.

Keywords: Biostimulant, Compost tea, Watery fermented compost extract, Amino acid, Bark treatment, Rubber tree, Tapping panel dryness.