Morphological Response of Two Soybean Varieties to Fertilizer Dose Levels in Intercropping Patterns with Maize

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture refers to agricultural systems and procedures that attempt to reduce the depletion of natural resources in the soil. Intercropping, one of the strategies in agroecological systems, allows farming to take advantage of the symbiotic relationship between different crops to increase land productivity and create a more stable agroecosystem. This study aims to determine changes in the morphological characteristics of soybeans when intercropped with maize at several levels of fertilizer recommendations. The study was conducted in Alue Peunyareng, Meureubo District, West Aceh Regency. The research employed a Randomized Block Design with two factors: variety (4 levels) - V1 (Bonanza + Detap-1), V2 (Exotic + Detap-1), V3 (Bonanza + Grobogan), V4 (Exotic + Grobogan); and fertilizer dosage (5 levels) - D1: 100% recommended dosage (Maize: 300 kg ha-1 Urea + 150 kg ha-1 SP36 + 50 kg ha-1 KCl; Soybean: 30 kg ha-1 Urea + 60 kg ha-1 SP-36 + 30 kg ha-1 KCl), D2: 75% recommended dosage + 10 tons/ha Organic Fertilizer, D3: 50% recommended dosage + 20 tons/ha Organic Fertilizer, D4: 25% recommended dosage + 30 tons/ha Organic Fertilizer, and D5: 40 tons/ha Organic Fertilizer. This resulted in 20 treatment combinations with three replications. The observed parameters were the morphological characteristics of soybean. Data were analyzed statistically using the F test, and if significantly different, it was followed by Tukey's least significant difference (LSD) test at a 0.05 significance level. The results showed that the variety significantly affected the height of plants aged 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42 Days After Planting (DAP), and the number of branches at 35 and 42 DAP. The recommended level of fertilizer dosage significantly affected the height of soybean plants aged 14, 28, 35 and 42 DAP and the number of branches at 21, 28 and 35 DAP.