Mowing Rice Crop as Ratoon and Applying Chromolaena odorata Compost to Support Food Security

Ratooning rice 45 days after planting is an effective means of forage production that allows a good rice harvest in addition.The objectives of this study were to determine the effect of mowing rice crops and applying composted Chromolaena odorata or C.odorata + NPK fertilizers application on days to harvest and yield of ‘Red Cempo’ brown rice. The experiment was conducted in Sungai Lareh, at Padang City, West Sumatra, Indonesia, from May 2015 to August 2015, on Ultisol soils. The experiment was arranged in a split-plot design, where the main plots were either unmown (P0) or
mown at 15 cm above ground at the flag leaf fully emerged stage of growth (P1). Subplots were fertilized with varying levels of combinations of composted C. odorata + NPK fertilizer applications. These combinations consisted of: B1) 5 Mg ha-1 C.odorata compost (CC) + 100% fertilizer recommendation (FR); B2) 7.5 Mg ha-1 CC + 75% FR; and B3) 10 Mg ha-1 CC + 50% FR. Treatments were replicated three times. All data were tested by using Analysis of
variance (ANOVA) p< 5%, and the real test LSD p< 5%. The
parameters tested were soil analysis, analysis of the forage nutrient content, the harvest age. Results of the experiments showed that Harvesting forage is feasible if it doesn’t lengthen the harvest age nor lower the yield of Red Cempo. The yields of ratoon forage from ‘Red Cempo’ rice averaged 2.80 Mg ha-1 . Amending soils with various combinations of doses of C.odorata compost and artificial fertilizer significantly affected to plant height, the number of tillers,and unfilled spikelet percentages. The good treatment was 5 Mg ha-1 CC + 100% FR, and reached dry grain harvested an average of 4,18 Mg ha-1 from rice in the plots mown for forage crops at the beginning of the primordial phase.