Soil fertility restoration strategy with the application of trichoderma biological fertilizer

The lack of practical understanding regarding the conservation of natural resources that guarantees sustainable agriculture, encourages practitioners of rice cultivation to ignore crop rotation which can prevent a decrease in soil fertility. This study aims to demonstrate the potential of paddy rice crop waste as a carrier material for Trichoderma biofertilizer formulations and its application strategy. This observational study took agricultural land objects in Kwedenkembar Village, Mojokerto, Indonesia. The observed variables include; effective paddy field area, soil fertility, amount of harvest and crop waste of paddy rice in one growing season, as well as index of symptoms of plant health decline. Collected data were analyzed by using related relevant reference sources. The functional area of rice planting for each growing season is 95.33 Ha, with an index of symptoms of declining health of 35.78±4.72, an average harvest of 5.07±0.38 tons/Ha, and an average harvest waste weight of 0.53±0.04 tonnes/Ha. Harvest waste can be converted as biofertilizer with an average rate of 0.53 tons/Ha and meets the needs of biofertilizer per Ha. Biofertilizer application strategies are: collecting and optimizing the use of rice harvest waste, training cadre farmers as operators of biofertilizer applications, formulation of biological agents, designing consistent crop rotation, application of biofertilizer when tilling soil for crop rotation and spraying to the crop canopy, utilization of crop post-harvest waste milling and livestock manure for composting, biofertilizer application through crown spraying, and a consistent return to the beginning of the cycle.