Organic Fertilizer Formulation to Improve the Quality and Yield of Eleutherine palmifolia L. (Merr) as an Alley Cropping in Coffee Plantation

Eleutherine palmifolia L. (Merr), or what is known as the Bawang Dayak in Indonesia, is a horticultural group of plants that can be used as a medicinal plant. This plant has many benefits because it contains secondary metabolite compounds, such as flavonoids, phenols, naphthoquinones, and antibacterial and anticancer derivatives. This research aims to explain the response of E. palmifolia plants to a combination of organic fertilizers on growth, yield, and total flavonoid content as an alley cropping under coffee trees. This research was implemented with randomized complete block design. Providing organic fertilizer uses a minus-one test, which consists of five treatments, namely: Without organic fertilizer; Complete fertilization (cow manure + guano + rice husk ash); cow manure + guano (without rice husk ash); guano + rice husk ash (without cow manure); and cow manure + rice husk ash (without guano). Each treatment was repeated five times. The application of complete organic fertilizer (cow manure + guano + rice husk ash) produces a higher number of leaves, shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root dry weight, tuber weight per plant (21.5 g), and tuber weight per plot (89.8 g) compared to without fertilization. The application of organic fertilizer produces the flavonoid content of E. palmifolia bulbs 1.2 – 1.3 times higher than no fertilization. The average percentage of shade obtained was 90.41% with an average air temperature of around 29.7°C. E. palmifolia can be planted under the coffee tree as an alley cropping. Based on the characteristics of the growth and yield of E. palmifolia, further research on the farming feasibility analysis needs to be considered.