Penerapan Teknik Konservasi Tanah dan Air Dalam Meningkatkan Produksi Kelapa Sawit.

Abstract

Indonesia region like Lampung is less suitable for oil palm plantation, because of long dry season and low rainfall. One of the effort to solve the drought is application of soil and water conservation technique such a ridge terrace and silt pit. This research was aimed to study effectiveness of ridge terrace and silt pit treatment which were accomplished with “biopori” and vertical mulches on soil moisture content as well as growth and production of oil palm plantation; to study the correlation of soil moisture content and growth and production of oil palm. The research was conducted in Afdeling III, Rejosari Management Unit PT Perkebunan Nusantara VII, South Lampung. The area of research consisted of 3 blocks namely block 1 (375) with ridge terraces treatment, block 2 (415) with no treatment, and block 3 (414) with silt pits treatment. The research results show that application of conservation techniques were able to increase monthly of average soil moisture content where in the figure in block 1, block 3, and block 2 are 48.32%, 45.21%, and 43.64%, respectively. The appearance of frond fracture of the three blocks is not significantly different. The production of oil palm in block 1 (ridge terraces) and block 3 (silt pits) are higher than block 2 (control). The production of block 1, 2, and 3 are 25 343.18, 22 677.38, and 24 251.97 kg/ha/year, respectively. Correlation value of soil moisture content towards oil palm production are very low. The correlation of block 1 is 0.175, block 2 is 0.100, and block 3 is 0.059. Correlation value of number ripe fresh fruit bunches and female infloresence nine months before on block 1, 2, and 3 are 0.628, 0.230, and 0.539, respectively.