Assessing of Soil Compaction and Relations to Soil Fertility on Different Land Used in Bintulu, Sarawak

Aiza Shaliha Jamaluddin,Shamshuddin Jusop,Aizul Azfar Zulkeefli,Hazandy Abdul Hamid,Md Rezaul Karim,Md Suzauddula,Arifin Abdu,Daljit Singh Karam Singh

doi:10.3844/ajassp.2020.117.128

Aiza Shaliha Jamaluddin, Shamshuddin Jusop + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3844/ajassp.2020.117.128

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Abstract

Assessing land uses-induced changes in soil properties from natural forests to farmland are indispensable for addressing the complications in terms of agricultural landscape sustainability. A study was conducted in Rehabilitated Forest (RF), Oil Palm (OP), Secondary Forest (SF) and Rubber Plantation (RP) at University Putra Malaysia in order to examine the results of soil densification on soil characteristics and fertility status via soil indices. Soils were sampled at two soil depths. Fall-corn-type soil penetrometer was used to examine Soil compaction. Status of the soil fertility was determined by using Soil Evaluation Factor (SEF) and Soil Fertility Index (SFI). The soil compaction was severe at RP and OP compared to SF and RF. The highest pH, total carbon and cation exchange capacity was recorded at RP site. Soil at OP was found highest organic matter content, nitrogen and available Al. The SFI was comparatively upper than SEF value in case of both depths. The highest SFI value was OP, followed by RP, RF and SF for the surface soil. Therefore, soil fertility were affected by different types of trees such as dipterocarp trees, oil palm trees and rubber trees as well as soil managements and it is required to develop appropriate land use policy, sustainable soil management and cultivation practices to face the recent soil degradation in the study area.

Highlights

In global ecosystems soil is an important constituent and it plays an important function in forestry and farming systems (Beheshti et al, 2012)
This study showed that the soil fertility status of the soils in study areas was affected by soil compaction
The application of soil indices in this study helps in finding a suitable method to assess the soil conditions in tropical forests

Summary

Introduction

In global ecosystems soil is an important constituent and it plays an important function in forestry and farming systems (Beheshti et al, 2012). Several study have pointed out that changes in land use would impact on the fertility and features of the soils because of subsequent modifications in biotic and abiotic factors (Solomon et al, 2000; Raise, 2007) and govern the soil physical, chemical and microbial processes (Celik, 2005; Raise, 2007; Beheshti et al, 2012). Agriculture activities result in a change of the aggregation-range of spreading and stability. The vital affiliation among Soil Organic Carbon (SOC), activity of microorganisms, aggregate-size and stability has been identified through several past study (Celik, 2005; Raise, 2007; Li et al, 2009)

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