Valorization of Seaweed Gracilaria sp. Biomass Waste into Liquid Organic Fertilizer: Assessment on Growth of Cayenne Pepper Capsicum Frutescens L.

EasyChair Preprint no. 9078

Abstract

Seaweed processing commonly generates biomass waste either used as a low-value product or discarded. However, seaweed biomass waste still contains essential nutrients that can be recovered to generate valuable products, such as organic fertilizer. This study aims to valorize seaweed Gracilaria sp. biomass waste into liquid organic fertilizer to support sustainable and eco-friendly production. Gracilaria sp. biomass waste from Karawang, Indonesia was composted, and two liquid organic fertilizer doses were formulated (containing 0.5 and 1.0% v/v of compost liquid). The fertilizer variants were then applied to Capsicum frutescens L. plants and their growth parameters (plant height, relative growth rate, number of leaves, and dry weight) were evaluated. The fertilizer's physicochemical properties (organic-C, total N, P, K, and pH) were also analyzed. The growth assessment and physicochemical characteristic results were then compared to the results from control and commercial organic fertilizer. The present study showed that both seaweed biomass waste-based liquid organic fertilizer variants generated higher C. frutescens L. plant growth parameters than the control, with comparable outcomes to the commercial one. Although, the fertilizer's organic-C, total N, P, and K content were below the national technical standard. These findings demonstrate that seaweed biomass waste is prospective and can be studied further for liquid organic fertilizer development.

Keyphrases: Composting, Gracilaria sp., plant growth, Seaweed fertilizer, zero waste

@Booklet{EasyChair:9078,
  author = {Imam Pudoli and Sukma Budi Prasetyati and Muhammad Fadhlullah},
  title = {Valorization of Seaweed Gracilaria sp. Biomass Waste into Liquid Organic Fertilizer: Assessment on Growth of Cayenne Pepper Capsicum Frutescens L.},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint no. 9078},

  year = {EasyChair, 2022}}