Search

The essential oil from Melaleuca leucadendra L. leaves has been widely used as a perfume and traditional remedy, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products ingredient since many years ago. The common technology to recover the oil is hydro-distillation and steam-distillation. However, all oil can not be fully extracted from the leaves by this method due to the recalcitrant structure of leaves that hindrance the access of the solvent. Adding a submerged fermentation as a pre-treatment step prior to the extraction process helped to loosen the lignocellulose structure and enhance oil release in the extraction process. In this study, the raw materials were collected from the natural forest in Buru Island, Maluku, Indonesia. The biological agents applied in these processes were Phanerochaete chrysosporium ITBCC136 and Trichoderma viride ITBCC143. The oil extraction process was conducted by method of steam-distillation, the oil was analysed using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS), and the lignocellulose content in the biomass was measured by the fractionation method. The treatment using T.viride provided the highest increase in yield percentage up to 3.47% as compared with control of 1.45%, with the lowest percentages of the remained cellulose, while the fermentation with the presence of P.chrysosporium did not affect the oil yield even the lignin content was decrease as much as 21%. The percentages of 1, 8-cineole in the oil were almost unchanged, which was about 20% of the oil.

Kompos artifisial yang dibuat dari bahan polimer baru-baru ini menarik perhatian peneliti sebagai pupuk yang tahan lama dan dapat meningkatkan produktivitas tanaman tanpa menimbulkan dampak yang besar pada lingkungan. Dalam penelitian ini, pipa membran hollow fiber (HFMP) yang terbuat dari bahan polipropilen dan pasir kuarsa, masing-masing digunakan sebagai model kompos artifisial dan partikel tanah. Hidrodinamika unggun yang terdiri dari HFMP dan pasir kuarsa diteliti dengan menggunakan metode falling-head. Hasil percobaan menunjukkan bahwa unggun yang ditambahkan HFMP mengalami peningkatan porositas unggun. Unggun dengan fraksi HFMP yang lebih tinggi menunjukkan kemampuan menahan air yang lebih rendah, yang mengindikasikan kemampuan yang buruk dari bahan polipropilen dalam menahan molekul air. Sebaliknya, permeabilitas yang lebih tinggi pada unggun yang ditambahkan HFMP menunjukkan aliran cairan yang lebih baik. Studi ini mengungkap potensi kompos artifisial yang dapat diterapkan dalam teknologi pertanian berkelanjutan. Kata kunci: Hidrodinamika, kapasitas menahan air, porositas, permeabilitas, kompos buatan ABSTRACT Artificial compost fabricated from polymer materials has recently attracted considerable interest as a highly durable fertilizer that could enhance plant productivity without harming the environment. In this study, polypropylene hollow fiber membrane pipes (HFMP) and quartz sand particles were employed as models of the artificial compost and soil particles, respectively. The hydrodynamics of various volumetric ratios of beds composed of the HFMP and the quartz sand were investigated using a falling-head technique. The results show that the bed supplemented with the HFMP demonstrated enhanced bed porosity. The bed with a higher HFMP fraction exhibited slightly less water-holding capacity, which suggests the poor ability of the polypropylene material to retain water molecules. On the contrary, the higher permeability of the bed amended with the HFMP indicates improved water flow. This study unfolds the potential of artificial compost that can be implemented in sustainable agricultural technology. Keywords: Hydrodynamics, water-holding capacity, porosity, permeability, artificial compost

Searching for artificial compost that could effectively enhance plant productivity while possessing high resistance in harsh soil conditions and a tunable pore size is of great importance towards the realization of long-lasting fertilizer. In this work, the artificial compost was modeled using porous polymer membrane pipes (PPMP) with a diameter of 5 mm and 7 1-mm-sized channels. Glass beads with a diameter of 10 mm and Glass Raschig rings (GRR) with a diameter of 7 mm and a 5-mm-sized channel were employed as a model of soil particles and normal compost, respectively. The hydrodynamics of the beds composed of various volumetric ratios of spherical and tubular particles were studied using a falling-head method. The results indicate that the addition of PPMP into the bed shows comparable bed porosity to the corresponding GRR bed. The beds with added PPMP particles demonstrate a five-fold higher water-holding capacity than that of GRR beds, with the same particle ratio. Slightly higher bed permeability were noticed in the beds composed of PPMP particles, which suggest improved water motion throughout the bed particles. The results reveal that artificial compost fabricated from polymer materials are potential in the preparation of highly durable fertilizer that can be applied in next generation agricultural technology.

Silica is one of the beneficial nutrients and has various essential roles to cope with stresses situation in the graminaceous plant. The availability of Si on earth is abundant however the form that can be readily uptake by the plant is limited, and without external addition, the silica content in the cultivated land would be depleted and decreasing plant growth, recycle Si from the decaying plant is a better alternative to protect from that situation. Rice husk is a leftover paddy by-product having significant Si content that can be reused. This study offered a biological way to treat the rice husk using rumen fluid as a better alternative to the high energy consuming thermal procedure. Rice husk was macerated in rumen fluid, the kinetic and model of lignocellulose degradation were evaluated. The study in Si release in liquid media i.e. 0.05 M hydrochloric acid, 0.1 citric acid and aquades, and Si extraction in alkaline solution 1 M KOH using the rumen-treated husk showed that this method could be a better alternative to develop high Si content of solid and liquid fertilizer, respectively.