Assessment of carbon and nitrogen distribution on several soil orders for sustainable management in dryland farming: A Case Study in Aceh Besar Regency, Indonesia

Abstract

The study was based on the distribution of soil carbon and nitrogen orders in a dryland farming system in Aceh Besar District, Indonesia. Soil samples were taken to represent 6 (six) soil orders in the drylands of Aceh Besar, namely: Andisols, Entisols, Inceptisols, Mollisols, Oxisols, and Ultisols. For each soil order, 5 observation profiles were made, and each soil profile was sampled at 7 (seven) soil depths from 0-100 cm, namely: 0-0.05 m; 0.05-0.10 m; 0.10-0.20m; 0.20-0.30m; 0.03-0.50m; 0.05-0.70 m; and 0.07-1.00 m so that there are 210 soil samples. The Walkley and Black method was used to analyze the soil’s carbon content, while the Kjeldahl method was used to determine the soil’s total nitrogen. The total C and N content of the soil in the dryland of Aceh Besar varies greatly depending on the soil order. The highest distribution of C and N in the soil profile is found at a depth of 0.10-0.30 m. Soil C and N content at a depth of 0-1.0 m in the Andisols order are higher than other soil orders. The C content of the topsoil (0-30 cm) ranged from 0.7-6.9% while the N content varied from 0.07-0.56%. The order of N and C content of soil according to soil order is: Andisols>Mollisols>Entisols>Inceptisols >Oxisols>Ultisols.