The change in the properties of seeding pad by the oil palm EFB fiber

Abstract

The crop production technologies keep in improving and the cultivation becomes more standardization owing to the significant developments of various agricultural materials. The artificial soil and base system for root could be one of the major technologies for the modern cultivation especially for controlled horticulture. Although the perlite, cocopeat, and peat moss are the major components of the artificial soil and are broadly used for various application, there is a great need for the new alternative materials for overcoming the low nutrition and the possible shortage of raw materials. In this study, the application of oil palm EFB fiber as an alternative materials for artificial soil especially for the seeding pad components was evaluated. The changes in the structural properties and the functional properties such as moisture holding properties were compared by laboratory produced seeding pads with different mixture of oil palm EFB fiber. The addition of fibrillated EFB fiber resulted in the significant increase in durability of the seeding pad, which showed the possible application of EFB fiber to the seeding pad instead of the wood fiber (UBKP). The moisture holding properties and the germination condition characteristics of the EFB fiber showed the slight less than those of the cocopeat, which require more sophisticated study for improving the functional properties of seeding pad made of the EFB fiber.