Conference
Increased pandan production through fertilization [1997]
Cartegenas, D. (Department of Agriculture, Cebu City (Philippines));
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Pandan production was improved under coconut plantation through inorganic fertilizer application. The site is prepared by two plowings and two harrowings. Pandan suckers were planted at a distance of 1 m between hills and 1.5 m between rows. Fertilization was done 1 month after planting and once in every year thereafter using a 60-30-30 kg NPK/ha. Hand weeding and underbrushing of surroundings were done bimonthly for the first 2 years and in lesser frequency as the plants get older. Leaf harvesting starts 2 years from planting and was done quarterly during the 1st year of harvest. Results showed that more leaves were harvested on fertilized pandan. During the 1st year of harvest, it yielded 155,500 leaves/ha or approximately 23 leaves/plant which was 18 percent higher than the usual yield. In 5 years, fertilized pandan gave a total of 140 leaves/plant or 74,000 more leaves/ha over that of zero fertilization. In terms of tensile strength, fertilized pandan produced quality leaves with a strength of 12.63 kg/g-m compared with the leaves unfertilized pandan with only 12.41 kg/g-m. Leaf length and width simultaneously increased with plant age. Mean length showed a 13 percent increase over the traditional and 8 percent increase in terms of mean weight. Pandan earned a total of P77,451 for 5 years when fertilized with approximately 7 percent advantage over the traditional. In terms of production cost, fertilized pandan was 10 percent higher than the unfertilized
but it gave a higher net return of P33,517 during 3 years of harvest. Planting pandan under coconut had improved productivity of the coconut mainly through cultivation and fertilization as a contributory factor
