Growth of Agathis dammara (Lamb. Rich.) seedling on gold tailing with addition of coconut shell charcoal and compost

Abstract

Tailing produced by gold mining activities may cause environmental damage, such as decreasing of soil fertility and endangering ecosystem. Tailing also can decrease the soil chacaracteristics and its fertility. Thus, it is not able to carry the plant growth as well. The addition of coconut shell charcoal and compost on tailing may improve the condition of soil properties (physical, chemical, and biological) and its fertility. Agathis dammara (Lamb. Rich.) is one of pioneer tree species that can be potentially used on revegetation process in post mining land. This research was carried out to assess the effect of adding coconut shell charcoal and compost on the growth of A. dammara seedling in tailing medium. This research uses complete random design (CRD) factorial. The result of this research shows that giving  coconut shell charcoal and compost manure  does not have significant effect to all parameter viz height, diameter, total wet weight (TWW), total dry weight (TDW), and root-shoot ratio  (RSR) of A. Dammara. The addition of coconut shell charcoal and compost gave the significant effects on total dry weight (TDW) of A. dammara seedling. The best treatment was the addition of 0 g coconut shell charcoal and 20 g compost (A0B1). Generally, the addition of coconut shell charcoal and compost could improve the soil characteristics and support the growth of the A. dammara seedling on tailing medium.