Utilization of urban waste as liquid organic fertilizer for vegetable crops in urban farming system

Abstract

Converting vegetable, fruit, food, fish offal and slaughterhouse waste that become a problem for the community in the urban areas into useful plant fertilizer is the solution. This study aims to determine (1) the potential of urban organic waste into liquid organic fertilizer and (2) the effectiveness of liquid organic fertilizer (LOF) in increasing the growth and yield of vegetable crops in urban farming systems. The study used Randomized Block Design (RBD) with some treatments P0 (control) and P1 (LOF with 6 types of waste) consisting of P2 (vegetable waste), P3 (fruit waste), P4 (sprouts waste), P5 (food waste), P6 (catfish waste) and P7 (blood waste). The treatment was repeated 3 times for a total of 28 experimental units. The three vegetable plants; eggplant, Bok Choy and mustard, were used in the experiment. The study found that liquid organic fertilizers from vegetables, fruit, sprout, food, fish, blood waste and mixed waste all contain organic matter, varying amounts of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), carbon (C), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe) and humic acid. All liquid organic fertilizer treatments increased eggplant and Bok Choy vegetable growth and yield; however, the type of organic waste used as a raw material for LOF did not affect growth but eggplant and Bok Choy yield. LOF from blood waste (P7) and fish waste (P6) has higher measured nutrients and yield from eggplant, Bok Choy and mustard vegetables than other treatments.