One of the most devastating pests of chili pepper is the sweet potato whitefly (SPW), Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae). It sucks plant sap, emits honeydew on which sooty mold fungi grow, and transmits the pepper yellow leaf curl Indonesia virus (PepYLCIV), the most damaging viral disease of chili in Indonesia. Farmers rely mainly on insecticide to control the insect with two to three sprays in a week. To reduce the insecticide use, an integrated approach needs to be developed. Therefore, the current study evaluated the effectiveness of the integration of reflective mulch, host plant resistance, and insecticide use for managing the sweet potato whitefly on the chili pepper. In 2018, a complete randomized block design was used in three separate trials to assess the effects of mulch, cultivar, or insecticide application frequency on the numbers of whitefly eggs, nymphs, and adults. In 2019, a split-split plot design was used to evaluate the effects of the integration of mulch, cultivar, and insecticide application frequency on the numbers of whitefly eggs, nymphs, and adults. The results showed that the reflective silver mulch had significantly lower numbers of whitefly eggs, nymphs, and adults, in comparison to the rice straw mulch and bare ground treatments. Chili plants cv. Bara was more resistant than Bhaskara against B. tabaci in the field; however, in the no-choice trial, no significant difference was detected between both cultivars. Insecticide applications twice per week and once per week were equally effective in controlling the whitefly on the susceptible cultivar (Bhaskara). Overall, the integration of reflective mulch, resistant cultivar, and insecticide application every two weeks effectively suppressed B. tabaci populations on the chili pepper. This approach could substantially reduce the number of insecticide applications from twice per week (commonly practiced by chili farmers in the area) to one application only in two weeks.

This paper discuss about the potential of fungal rot isolates as phosphate-dissolving fungi and their vegetative growth ability on three solid media. All fungal rot isolates were collected from decayed cocoa plants in Bila Village, Pitu Riase, Sidrap District, South Sulawesi. The potential to dissolve phosphate was examined on Pikovskaya broth media and measured using spectrophotometer. The Vegetative ability to grow on solid media was tested on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA), Malt Pepton Agar (MPA), and Malt Extract Agar (MEA). The results showed that the highest quantitative ability to dissolve phosphate was observed on fungal rot isolate BPB, followed by JT, BPG, and BPE1isolates. MPA medium supported the best mycelial growth compared with others media.

This study aims to determine the characteristics of soil pores and therelationship of pore characteristics with soil permeability. Soil samples were collected from Punagaya Village, Bangkala District, Jeneponto Regency, South Sulawesi. Soil samples were taken from 20 observation points representing two types of land use ie cultivated land and fallow field at a depth of 0-60 cm. Soil analysis (pH, organic material, C-organic, cation exchange capacity, bulk density and soil texture), Pore characteristics(porosity, pore distribution and pore stability), and permeability. Analysis of soil properties and pore characteristics was descriptive, while the relationship between pore characteristics and permeability was analyzed by single or multiple regression and correlation analysis. The results showed that the permeability of soil vertisol 0.29 cm/h (slow) and the average value of soil pore characteristics of vertisol as follows: porosity ranged 56.49%, fast drainage pore 4.35%, water pore available 17.8% And 32.5% micro pores, and 36.46% pore stability. Based on the regression and correlation test, it is known that Porosity and porosity and pore stability index have the greatest influence on permeability.

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In Indonesia, there is not much use of potassium fertilizer for plants. Generally, farmers are more familiar with nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers than potassium. This is caused potassium is expensive and hard to find, so there should be another alternative for easily and economic potassium fertilizer. This study aims to analyze the effect of organic liquid fertilizer produced from banana stem and coconut fiber to increase Potassium in soil and maize growth on ex-cassava cultivation land in Moncongloe Bulu Village, Moncongloe District, Maros Regency. The study used randomized block design within two factors and replied for three times. The first factor is coconut liquid fertilizer with 4 levels; SK1 (50 ml/pot), SK2 (100 ml/pot), SK3 (150 ml/pot) and SK4 (200 ml/pot). The second factor is banana liquid fertilizer with 4 levels; BP1 (25ml/pot), BP2 (50ml/pot), BP3 (75ml/pot) and BP4 (100ml/pot), so there are 27 total of treatment units. The results showed that coconut liquid fertilizer significantly affected plant height, number of leaves, dry matter weight, dry root weight, matter weight, root weight, organic carbon, cation exchanged capacity, percentage Potassium of maize, and gained the highest average of Pottassium increasing in soil. Nevertheless, it has not significant effect to soil pH.