Trubus.id— Eucalyptus is one of the plants that is adaptive on critical land, making it an option for planting on nutrient-poor land. However, this does not mean that planting eucalyptus on critical land is without maintenance.
Adequate fertilization and plant maintenance is necessary so that plants can grow optimally. So far, fertilization uses NPK and TSP to maintain optimal leaf biomass growth.
Another effort uses eucalyptus leaf compost left over from distillation. Efforts to increase eucalyptus leaf production through improving land quality can also be pursued in an environmentally friendly manner by utilizing microorganism biotechnology, namely mycorrhiza.
Mycorrhizae, especially arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), are suitable partners for eucalyptus. Mycorrhizal association is a mutualistic symbiotic relationship between mycorrhizal-forming fungi and plants that occurs in the root area.
Plants get increased nutrient and water uptake and roots are protected from soil pathogens. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi obtain carbon as an energy source from plants.
Mycorrhiza can also increase growth hormones and growth regulators or auxin. This hormone supports the continued function of roots as absorbers of nutrients and water that plants need.
The role of mycorrhiza is also to increase shoot and root growth after 1 year of inoculation. The available phosphorus content, phosphatase activity, and electrical conductivity in the rhizosphere of the soil where the inoculated plants grew were higher compared to the treatment without inoculation.
AMF is able to increase the existence of microorganisms that support land productivity. The mycorrhizal association that is formed is scientifically proven to maintain optimal eucalyptus productivity in marginal land conditions.
Against the threat of fire, for example, eucalyptus shows the ability to survive with the presence of AMF in the rhizosphere area. Yulia Citra’s research from Raden Fatah State Islamic University, Palembang, South Sumatra, in 2021 proved this.
This research shows that in post-fire stem conditions with a burnt percentage of 50% on the bark, the development of AMF is still conducive.
The number of AMF populations was not significantly different from that which was not burned. This means that the development of eucalyptus plants in any condition requires mycorrhizal support because they are faced with diverse land characteristics.
Planting locations are not all ideal for supporting the growth of eucalyptus plants. Implementation of the use of mycorrhizal biotechnology in eucalyptus plants needs to be realized in real terms by critical land rehabilitation actors in Indonesia.
It is important to include mycorrhizal inoculation as a supporting component at the nursery scale. This is fully supported by the availability of quality and tested starter inoculants.
In this way, rehabilitation plants are ready to fight with various land conditions for the successful rehabilitation of critical land. The approach to critical land rehabilitation that is possible is selecting plant types and environmental manipulation.
Eucalyptus is the right choice because it is able to grow in places where drought stress is a limiting factor. This is in accordance with the natural habitat of eucalyptus which is widely spread in Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara, Southeast Sulawesi, Bali and Papua.
Please understand, these locations are dry areas in eastern Indonesia. Not only is it adaptive, eucalyptus also has high economic value.
2023-10-12 07:49:27
#Utilization #Mycorrhiza #Cultivation #Eucalyptus #Plants #Trubus
