PERTUMBUHAN BENIH KELAPA SAWIT (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) PADA MEDIA TANAM KOMBINASI ANTARA GAMBUT, TANAH LAPISAN ATAS DAN ARANG SEKAM PADI DI PEMBIBITAN AWAL/The Growth of Oil Palm Seeds (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) on Combinated Media of Peat, Topsoil an

Growth medium is very important to produce good quality of seedling. The use of different growing media would give a different influence on plant colonization, as each medium type has different nutrient content. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the growth of oil palm seedlings in a variety of growing media composition in pre-nursery. The research was carried out in smallholder estate of Keramasan Karyajaya Village, Kertapati Sub district of South Sumatra from September 2017 until December 2017. The design used was completely randomized design with growing media (M) as treatments: M0 (topsoil/controls), M1 (peat), M2 (topsoil+rice husk charcoal), M3 (peat + rice husk charcoal), M4 (topsoil+peat+rice husk charcoal). The observed variables were plant height number of leaves, greenness of leaves, and the number of survival seeds. The results of this study showed that growth media significantly affected plant height and the greenness of leaves. The percentage of oil palm seeds growing on peat media increase about 13% compared to the top soil medium. So, peat moss media can be used as an alternative media to replace the top soil media.Key words: topsoil, peat, rice husk charcoal, oil palm, pre-nursery AbstrakMedia pembibitan sangat penting dalam menghasilkan bibit yang berkualitas baik. Penggunaan media tanam yang berbeda-beda diduga akan memberikan pengaruh yang berbeda terhadap pertumbuhan tanaman, karena setiap jenis media tanam memiliki kandungan unsur hara yang berbeda. Tujuan penelitian adalah mengevaluasi pertumbuhan benih kelapa sawit pada berbagai komposisi media tanam di pembibitan awal. Penelitian dilaksanakan di perkebunan rakyat Desa Keramasan Karyajaya, Kecamatan Kertapati, Sumatera Selatan dari bulan September 2017 sampai Desember 2017. Rancangan yang digunakan adalah rancangan acak lengkap (RAL) dengan perlakuan media tanam (M): M0 (Tanah lapisan atas/kontrol), M1 (Gambut), M2 (Tanah lapisan atas+arang sekam padi), M3 (Gambut+arang sekam padi), M4 (Tanah lapisan atas+gambut+arang sekam padi). Peubah yang diamati meliputi tinggi tanaman, jumlah daun, tingkat kehijauan daun, dan jumlah benih yang hidup. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa perlakuan media tanam berpengaruh nyata terhadap tinggi tanaman dan tingkat kehijauan. Persentase tumbuh benih kelapa sawit pada media gambut naik sekitar 13% jika dibandingkan dengan media tanah lapisan atas, sehingga media gambut dapat digunakan sebagi media alternatif untuk menggantikan media tanah lapisan atas.Kata kunci: Tanah lapisan atas, gambut, arang sekam padi, kelapa sawit, pembibitan awa