Oleh: Ayna Farhana

SERDANG, 19 February - Agriculture in the context of community life today is more dynamic with the development of agricultural technology and it also contributes to the sustainability of the country's economy. The transformation of urban agriculture is an initiative of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) to preserve urban agriculture to encourage communities to farm in minimal crop areas covering the skills and innovations produced to produce fresh, nutritious and safe food. According to the definition of UPM - Urban agriculture is the activity of planting and maintenance by the community in and around the city in a recreational and leisurely way for family needs or additional income.

Majlis Perwakilan Pelajar, Kolej Dua Belas

In order to boost community involvement in the implementation of Urban Agriculture Transformation as a method of saving the cost of living, especially for urban communities, in addition to achieving the comfort of life from own food production of various healthy and safe varieties, UPM plans several programs and activities that are more focused and impactful including creating plots urban agriculture in every PTJ UPM.

The Fertigation Urban Farming Project located at Kolej Dubelas, Universiti Putra Malaysia has started in early November 2021. The beginning of this project, the planting of 150 eggplant trees through fertigation has been carried out. The eggplant harvest from the beginning of January 2022 until the middle of February 2022 is 80 kg.

Eggplant plant (Solanum melongena) is a fruit vegetable from the family Solanaceae and the genus Solanum. This plant that grows vertically can reach a height of up to 40 - 150 cm (16 - 57 inches) and usually has large leaves, there are rough lobes that measure 10 -20 cm (4-8 inches) in length and 5 -10 cm (2 -4 inches) wide. Semi-wild types are larger and grow up to 225 cm (7 ft), with leaves over 30 cm (12 in) long and 15 cm (6 in) long. Tree trunks are often thorny. The color of the flower ranges from white to purple, with a corolla that has five lobes. The stamens are yellow.

Eggplant planting technology by fertigation has proven to be effective in increasing the growth and yield of crops up to 2-3 times compared to conventional planting methods. Cultivation of eggplant by fertigation can improve plant performance and fruit yield. Whatever is reported where the method of planting is easy and the cost of fertilization is cheap. Fertigation-based eggplant cultivation technology is now increasingly in demand because eggplant crops are less prone to disease and pest problems.

Malay name: Mini eggplant (Sticky variety 323)

Scientific Name: Solanum Melongena L

Plant medium: Cocopeat in a polybag

Fertilizing & watering:

Foliar Feeding (foliar fertilizer spray)
Semi-automatic fertigation system
Plant in a 'double line'

Pest and disease control:

Biological Control (Bacillus - for fungal control in plant media)
Mechanical Control (Steiner's trap - fruit fly trap)
Chemical Control (Anthracol & Mancozeb - fungal attack control with fungicides, Malathion - whitefly insect control, Dimethrin - fruit borer insect control)

How to harvest:

Identify ripe and healthy fruit
Picking ripe fruit using 'secatuers'
The fruit that has been picked will be soaked and washed with water
The harvest is weighed and graded
Next, the eggplant fruit is packed according to the quantity requested by the customer

Date of Input: 19/02/2022 | Updated: 13/10/2022 | aynafarhana