| Summary: | The research aims were 1) to determine the mechanical and physiological responses
of oil palm tissues to the applications of B and Si and 2) to determine the optimal
doses of B and Si that induce the oil palm seedling to drought resistance. The
research was arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) factorial
with three blocks as replication. The first factors were the doses of B, namely 0, 0.17,
0.44, 0.87, 1.31 and 1.75 g/crop. The second factors were the doses of Si, namely: 0,
1.15, 2.31, 3.46, and 4.61 g/crop. Observations were done on several variables of
microclimate, plant growth, physiological activity, anatomy and morphology of
crops as well as B and Si concentrations in crop tissues. Data were analyzed using
analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 5% levels, and continued using least significant
difference test (LSD). The optimum doses of B and Si that able to increase oil palm
resistance to drought stress were determined using regression analysis.
Morphological and physiological characters of oil palm seedlings that have direct
and indirect effects to the drought stress were determined through path analysis. The
results showed that the application of B was able to induce resistance of oil palm
seedlings to drought stress through physiological mechanisms, namely an increase in
the accumulation of proline, phenol and antioxidant activities as well as the
minimization of the free-radical activity in the form of H2O2. Meanwhile, Si
applications on oil palm seedlings were able to induce resilience to drought stress
through the structural reinforcement (thickening) of root cell walls indicated by the
increase of root firmness. The optimal doses of B that to induce the resistance of oil
palm seedlings to drought stress was 0.44 to 0.83 g/crop, meanwhile the optimal
doses of Si could not be found until 4.61 g applications/crop.
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