Analaysis Of Variations In Drainage Hole Distance From The Base Of The Tube And Nutrient Concentration On The Growth Of Pakcoy (Brassica chinensis L.) in AJB system

Abstract

The climate in Indonesia is very suitable for agriculture, especially the cultivation of holticultural
crops (vegetables), like pakcoy (Brassica chinencis L.). However, as time goes by and population
growth, there is a lot of conversion of agricultural land which causes limited agricultural land.
Especially for urban areas and it’s surroundings. Hydroponics is one solution to overcome the
limitations of agricultural land, but the hydroponic system requires a fairly high cost and
complicated system. The AJB system is here as a solution for low cost and simple hydroponic
system. The purpose of this study was to determine the distance of the drainage hole from the
bottom of the tub and the most suitable nutrient concentration in the AJB system for the cultivation
of pakcoy plants. The method used in this study is an experimental method by observing the growth
of pakcoy plants in the AJB system with variations in the distance of the drainage holes from the
bottom of the tub and different nutrient concentrations. The parameters of the research were:
permeability, porosity, texture, plant height, number of leaves, leaf area, plant wet weight and
plant water requirement. The results showed that the average permeability of the growing media
was 24.661 cm/hour. The porosity of the planting medium was 33.333 %. The texture of the
growing media contains 3.33-4.67 % clay, 10-10.67 % dust and 85.33-86.67 % sand. Plant height,
number of leaves and leaf area doesn’t show a lot of difference, in plant wet weight with the
highest value being 200.3 grams and the lowest being 87.3 grams. The amount of water needed
by the AJB system is in accordance with the distance of the drainage hole from the bottom of the
tub. The most suitable distance of the drainage hole from the bottom of the tub is 10 cm or 7.5 cm
with a nutrient concentration of 1350 ppm.