POTATO RESPONSE TO LIQUID ORGANIC FERTILIZER AND SILICA IN GROWTH AND PRODUCTION

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) consumption is in large quantities in Indonesia and worldwide. However, potato production is still quite low in Indonesia. This research aimed to determine the effect of liquid organic fertilizer and silica on potato productivity, with the experiment carried out during 2023 in Sulawesi Selatan, Indonesia. The study used a factorial design of two factors, with the first factor as the liquid organic fertilizer (LOF), consisting of four treatments, i.e., no treatment (control), 150, 200, and 250 mL L -1 . The second factor was the application of silica fertilizer, comprising four treatments—without treatment (control), 100, 200, and 300 g m-2 . The results showed liquid organic fertilizer (250 mL L -1 ) and silica fertilizer (300 g m-2 ) produced the maximum plant height, number of leaves, tubers, fresh weight of tubers, and tuber yield at 60.62 cm, 235.36 strands, 8.65, 80.66 g, and 11.29 t ha-1 , respectively. Additionally, a considerable increase appeared in protein content (2.69%), vitamin C (163.17%), and carbohydrate (14.27%). The optimal combinations of LOF concentrations (150 and 250 mL L -1 ) and silica fertilizer doses (100 and 300 g m-2 ) resulted in the highest phosphorus content (0.15%). The combined application of liquid organic fertilizer and silica demonstrated its effectiveness in enhancing potato crop production.