Kajian Cekaman Kekeringan Sesudah Masa Berbunga Tanaman Kacang Merah (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) pada Tanah Entisol

Red beans are important legumes for human consumption and are considered a major source of vegetable protein for direct consumption. This study aimed to determine the effect of drought stress after the flowering period of red bean plants grown in entisol soil. The field trial was conducted from June to December 2017, in the experimental garden of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Timor. Sasi Village, Kefamenanu City Subdistrict, TTU District, used a single factor Completely Randomized Design which was repeated 14 times. The factor applied is drought stress after the flowering period which consists of control (not stressed), 1 week after primordia without water, and 2 weeks after the flowering period without watering. Observations included air temperature, air humidity, soil moisture content, soil volume weight, plant height, leaf number, leaf area, canopy fresh weight, root fresh weight, plant fresh weight, canopy dry weight, root dry weight, plant-based dry weight, total dry weight, root canopy ratio, number of seeds per pod, number of pods per plant, dry seed weight per plant, harvest index. The results showed that drought stress after the primordial period or flowering of red beans had a negative influence on the red bean plants, resulting in failure of seed production.Kacang merah merupakan legum penting bagi konsumsi manusia dan dianggap sebagai sumber protein nabati utama untuk konsumsi langsung. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh cekaman kekeringan pada sesudah masa berbunganya tanaman kacang merah yang ditanam di tanah entisol. Percobaan lapangan dilaksanakan pada bulan Juni sampai bulan Desember 2017, di kebun percobaan Fakultas Pertanian, Universitas Timor. Kelurahan Sasi, Kecamatan Kota Kefamenanu, Kabupaten TTU, menggunakan Rancangan Acak Lengkap faktor tunggal yang diulang 14 kali. Faktor yang diterapkan adalah cekaman kekeringan sesudah masa berbunga yang terdiri: kontrol (tidak cekaman), 1 minggu sesudah primordia tanpa penyiraman, dan 2 minggu sesudah masa berbunga tanpa penyiraman. Pengamatan meliputi suhu udara, kelembapan udara, kadar lengas tanah, berat volume tanah, tinggi tanaman, jumlah daun, luas daun, berat segar tajuk, berat segar akar, berat segar tanaman, berat kering tajuk, berat kering akar, bobot kering berangkasan tanaman, bobot kering total berangkasan, rasio tajuk akar, jumlah biji per polong, jumlah polong per tanaman, bobot biji kering per tanaman, indeks panen. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa cekaman kekeringan sesudah masa primordia atau berbunganya kacang merah memberikan pengaruh buruk terhadap tanaman kacang merah, sehingga mengakibatkan gagalnya produksi biji