Physical and Mechanical Characteristics of Oil Palm Leaf and Fruits Bunch Stalks for Bio-Mulching

Mandang, Tineke and Sinambela, Rismen and Pandianuraga, N R (2017) Physical and Mechanical Characteristics of Oil Palm Leaf and Fruits Bunch Stalks for Bio-Mulching. FORUM IPIMA : IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 196. pp. 1-14.

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Abstract

This paper discusses specifically on physical and mechanical characteristics of oil palm leaf and FFB stalks as parameter used to select appropriate method for size reduction of materials which will give optimum performance as bio-mulch. Physical and mechanical properties of oil palm leaf and fresh fruit bunch (FFB) stalks are basic data in determining the appropriate method of size reduction in order to find optimum size of material for bio-mulching. The output of this research were (1) the physical characteristics i.e.size (length, width, thickness),and moisture content; (2) mechanical propertiesi.e. shear strength, tensile strength, and hardness. Previous researches showed that the use of mulches, both organic and synthetic mulches were able to maintain soil moisture, reduce nutrient leaching, to maintain soil organic matter, soilaggregates, reduce runoff/erosion, and prevent weed growth. Oil palm frond collected after harvesting activities is generally placed on a “gawanganmati”under oil palm trees. The materials are expected to decompose naturally. However, currently, the materials are not fully managed and just remain in the field which takes space and disturb the field operation during production of oil palm. In fact the materials are potential as bio-mulch if it is in proper size that can be well distributed in the field. In this study, the materials used for mulchingareoil palm leaf and FFB stalks. Toshorten the decomposition time of the mulch, one of the aspects that should be suppressed is the size of the mulch.In terms of achieving optimumimpact of materials as bio-mulch, it is necessaryto determine the shape, dimensions, moisture content, strength and hardness of materials.

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