THE EFFECT OF COCOPEAT AND RICE HUSK PLANTING MEDIA HYDROPONICALLY ON THE GROWTH OF PALM OIL IN PRE NURSERY

Palm oil can produce high productivity which must be supported from several aspects, one of them is a good and correct nursery. Palm oil nursery isusually carried out conventionally, namely planting using soil media. Hydroponic research using cocopeat and rice husks planting media on the growth of palm oil seeds in pre nursery has never been carried out. The objective of this study was to determine the growth of palm oil seedlings using the hydroponic method. This research was conducted in the STIPAP Medan greenhouse. This research was conducted from April to July 2018. This research was a non-factorial RAK, which consisted of four treatments, namely M0 (top soil), M1 (Cocopeat), M2 (rice husks), M3 (combination). Height, stem, number of leaves, dry and wet weight of roots and plants, root length were observed. Then data analysis with ANOVA with the continued test of 5% Duncan was performed. The results of the effect of cocopeat and rice husk media was there was no a significant effect on the treatment parameters of seed height, number of leaves, dry and wet weight of roots and plants, and root length.


INTRODUCTION
Palm oil (Elaeis guineensis) is one of the plantation crops that contributes to the largest foreign exchange for Indonesia. For vegetable oil producers, palm oil is superior to its competitors, namely soybean, sunflower, Conola and so on. The problem of palm oil found in Indonesia is quite complex, which can lead to low productivity. Palm oil nursery is the first step that can support the success of the plantation (Sartini et al., 2018). The other determining factors in seed processing are influenced by the planting medium used.
Laisan soil or so-called top soil is generally used which has higher fertility, according to the Palm oil Research Center, the thickness of the top soil is 10-30 cm which is commonly used in palm oil nursery. The planting media greatly affects the growth of the seeds to be planted, so it is necessary to choose the right planting medium. Loose, fertile, light, cheap and easy to obtain are the characteristics of a good planting medium for nursery.
Rice husks and cocopeat are cheap agricultural waste products and easy to obtain (Novita et al.,2012

Research Stages:
The plant material used the sprouts from Medan PPKS (DxP PPKS Langkat variety).
Polybag filling used ultisol soil, which dry it first. Then it was sieved to remove the remaining wood and roots, then fulfilled it in a poly bag so that no cavities occurred and the level was left approximately 2cm.
Likewise with cocopeat and rice husks, the poly bag was fulfilled so that there was no cavity then flushed it until really solid.
Watering was done a day before planting sprouts, soil, cocopeat and rice husks in polybags until they are completely wet.
Planting 1 sprout in each polybag in 2 cm deep from the planting surface. Adding nutrients after checking the concentration every day and for conventional media using urea fertilizer with a reference dose that has been determined by PPKS.

Observation and Indicator
Height of plant was measured from the base of the stem (palm bole) to the tip of the highest leaf using a tape measure.
Measurements were done at the age of 4 weeks to 12 weeks of seedlings in once a week. Counting the total number of leaves that had been opened completely.
Measurements were done at the age of 4 weeks to 12 weeks of seedlings in once a week.
The root wet weight data were

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Based on the research data, it was found that the parameters of the height of the seedlings in the treatment started 28 days (4 weeks    MST showed that the highest root dry weight was 0.65 gr. The dry weight of the roots, after unloading, weigh the wet weight first, then do the oven. Weighing is carried out using analytical scales in grams. Stunted root elongation was then followed by secondary growth, namely root expansion caused by the activity of the lateral meristem, namely the formation of the cambium. The widening of the roots caused the root diameter increase which in turn affects the dry weight of the roots. Research by (Frasetya et al., 2018) showed that the EC treatment of 1.7 mS/cm and 2.4 mS/cm produced the highest plant fresh weight of 79.32 mS/cm. It can be seen from the increasing in plant height and root volume, which will increase the wet weight of palm oil plants.  water. This is based on Taufiqullah's opinion (2017) that plant roots will be easy to get through the form of porous soil, so that the roots will develop properly. The crumbly soil structure will make it easier for the roots to pass through, so that the plant growth was higher and had longer roots.
According to (Delaide et al., 2016) fish fece waste contains microorganisms and a high content of dissolved organic matter which plays an important role in supporting the crown and roots, especially root volume. So it is possible that cocopeat and rice husk have microorganisms that are useful for affecting the length of the roots of palm oil seedlings. Farida et al., (2017) stated that for hydroponic tds (ppm) 900 -1,400, solution pH of 6.5 -6.9. It is in accordance with the research we conducted where the pH was not more than 7 and not too low than 6 and the maximum results.
According to Syarif (2013)  According to (Siregar et al., 2015) the elements in the solution could be absorbed by plants, their availability was largely determined by pH. Some elements had a certain pH value range, N was at at pH 5.5 -7.5 while K at pH 5.5 -10 while micro elements were relatively available at low pH. The availability of essential elements in relation to pH means that to carry out field experiments it is recommended that they be carried out in areas with a pH of approximately 7.

CONCLUSION
From the research results, it can be concluded that the use of cocopeat planting media had no significant effect on all observations, but the best number of leaves was on cocopeat media. The use of rice husk media did not significantly affect the overall parameters observed, but the dry weight and root length were better for rice husk media. In all observations, cocopeat media mixed with rice husks had no significant effect. The cocopeat media mixed with rice husk was the best for plant height parameters.