Penetapan Kadar Air Kapasitas Lapang dengan Metode Alhricks, Drainase Bebas, dan Pressure Plate pada Berbagai Tekstur Tanah untuk Tanaman Bunga Matahari (Helianthus annuus L.)

Abstract

Soil water availability is one of the important factors influencing plant growth. Field capacity is an upper limit of available water for plants. Field capacity can be determinated by different methods. The objectives of this research are to compare among methods of field capacity measurement and to observe a response of sunflower growth in the range of field capacity that define with different methods. This research was initiated with field capacity measurement with three diffrent methods, i.e. Alhricks, Free drainage, and Pressure Plate at different soil textures, i.e. clay, sandy clay loam, and sandy loam. Furthermore, sunflower planting with different watering treatment based on field capacity of each mentioned methods was carried out in greenhouse. The research was designed by completely randomized design factorial with three replications. The result showed that soil texture and field capacity method and interaction of both significantly affected a field capacity value. In clay textured soil, watering treatment based on field capacity of each method did not significantly affect on plant height, number of leaves, stem diameter, and dry root biomass but significantly affected on wet root biomass, wet and dry canopy biomass, and root length. The result also showed that different texture will affect growth response of sunflower.