Growth Performance of Oil Palm Seedlings as Influenced by Fern Bio-Compost

Abstract

Dicranopteris linearis is a fern species commonly found in oil palm plantations throughout Malaysia. It easily spread with a wide covering root resulting in plant competition for nutrient, space, light and water. Generally, this species is managed through the application of herbicide that leads to environmental damage. Thus, composting of these ferns will act as a good source of organic fertili ser and growth bio-stimulant. This study aims to quantify the nutrient content of D. linearis bio-compost and to determine the most effective ratio of D. linearis bio-compost for optimal growth of oil palm seedlings. A Completely Randomised Design was adopted with four replications and six treatments where T0 (control), T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5 received 80 g, 160 g, 240 g, 320 g, and 400 g of fern bio-compost, respectively. The parameters observed were plant height, number of leaves, leaf width, root length, dry and fresh weight. Treatment T5 recorded the highest growth performance in all parameters measured. However, there were no significant differences among the treatments except for fresh weight at P value of 0.01. Conclusively, fern bio-compost has potential to be used as a planting media for the oil palm seedling, thus minimising the application of herbicides.