Description:
Inorganic fertilizer has long been used in improving soil fertility and enhancing crop production in
Indonesia, especially for estate crops like oil palm (Euis guenensis). However, the use of inorganic
fertilizers is ought to stimulate methane formation in soil and successive greenhouse gas emissions to the
atmosphere and suppress the development of particular microbes of wetlands’ soils. As the one of the
alternative in oil palm cultivation is to use compost. The objectives of this study were to determine the
effects of applying combined compost on gas emissions and diversity of soil fungi in oil palm field on
wetlands. For these, grass compost with inorganic fertilizer (WC), oil palm empty fruit bunches compost
with inorganic fertilizer (OPEPB), and the inorganic fertilizer without compost (CF) were tested. The
emissions of CH4, CO2 and N2O were collected from the oil palm planting holes by closed chamber
method. Soil samples were also taken and used for determination of fungi characteristic and diversity.
The results of this research showed no statistical different in CH4, CO2 and N2O emissions from WC,
OPEPB and CF plots. Meanwhile, the genera of soil fungi that were found on the sites after applying
combining compost, viz Aspergillus, Bipolaris, Gonatobotrys, Gonatorrhodiella, Oidiodendron,
Penicillium, Rhynchosporium, Rhizopus, Trichoderma, and Trichocladium. It could be concluded that the
use of compost increased the diversity of soil fungi without significantly effect on gas emissions from oil
palm field on wetlands.