Application of Chicken Manure Tea to Reduce NPK Fertilizer Doses Without Reduction of Growth and Yield of Small Chili in Dryland

This study examined the effects of chicken manure tea (CMT) application and reduced NPK fertilizer dose on the growth and yield of small chili grown on dryland. The experiment was conducted from March to June 2025 in Gumantar Village, North Lombok Regency, Indonesia, using a randomized complete block design with three replications and four treatments: T1 (no CMT + 100% NPK fertilizer), T2 (no CMT + 60% NPK fertilizer), T3 (CMT application + 100% NPK fertilizer), and T4 (CMT application + 60% NPK fertilizer). Data were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey’s HSD test at the 5% significance level with CoStat for Windows. The results showed that the highest growth and yield were obtained in T3 (CMT + 100% NPK) and T4 (CMT + 60% NPK), with no significant differences between T3 and T4 except for number of branches. Therefore, CMT application allows the NPK fertilizer dose to be reduced to only 60%, producing a fruit yield of 277.87 g/plant compared with 200.87 g/plant under the without CMT + 100% NPK treatment, supported by the highest leaf number in T4, which was positively correlated with fruit weight per plant (R2 = 35.2%, p-value = 0.04). Further research is needed to examine how much inorganic fertilizer use can be reduced by application of chicken manure tea (CMT) in chili production under different types of soil conditions in an effort to improve the sustainability of crop production in dryland areas.