Determination of Oryza sativa L. (MR 220) growth performance toward different concentration of Effective Microorganism (EM) / Wan Muhammad Fitri Bahari

Malaysia is one of the countries that produce rice to be used as a staple food to the people in this country. Malaysia had to import rice from other countries such as Thailand to fulfil the demand of the people although the country has vast areas of paddy crops, particularly in the northern region s. There are several factors that have been identified as the cause of the problem which is lack of technology in agriculture sector that has caused a bit of rice production per hectare. Therefore, the study of effective microorganism (EM) was conducted to increase the paddy production at lower cost and can reduce environmental pollution instead use of chemicals. Effective microorganism (EM) solution was used as a substitute for chemical fertilizer to support nutrient for paddy crops. The study was conducted in a greenhouse in UiTM Jasin by making 6 treatment of Tl , T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6 (NPK = Tl , T2 = EM 1:400, T3 = EM 1: 600, T4 = EM 1: 800 , T5 = EM 1: 1000 and T6 = untreated). Observation on this study was conducted over 12 weeks until the plant reach heading stage (90-120 days). In addition, identification of the fungal population in effective microorganism (EM) solution has also been conducted to identify the different of CFU in each different EM treatments. The results of the study showed that the efficacy of NPK fertilizer show better growth rates than EM. All EM treatment showed no significant difference between all of them in terms of height, leaf number and tiller number. Even though effectiveness of EM treatments is not as great as NPK fertilizer treatment but progress is seen trees can grow properly and healthy when compared with no treatment.