Effect of Soil Damage on Carrying Capacity of Biomass Production: A Lesson from Tanjung Selor District – Tanjung Redeb, Indonesia

Abstract

Currently, land use is considered intensive for various purposes that affect the soil as the main series of land and the environment. The other side of the soil in Kalimantan is naturally formed from material that is poor in nutrients so it is not fertile and acidic. This study attempted to evaluate the status of soil damage to the carrying capacity for biomass production in Tanjung Selor District. The overlay analysis of land slope, rainfall, soil type and land cover in the form of a map produces indicative areas of low, medium and high damage. High damage indicative areas were selected for verification, observation and soil sampling to obtain soil damage parameter data, carried out in March 2020. Analysis of the relative frequency score of the damaged parameters aims to determine the status of carrying capacity and soil damage. The results of the study based on 10 soil damage parameters obtained a score of 6 with the status of lightly damaged soil damage, the main factor being soil acidity (R.I-a) with a high carrying capacity of 1,684 ha. The acidity factor with a pH of <4.5 (very acidic) has the most effect, 80% is damaged, but is relatively easy to repair. Efforts to improve cultivated plants are stressed by soil acidity by using soil amendments to raise the pH above the minimum range that is more suitable to increase biomass production and carrying capacity, namely agricultural lime and compost followed by N, P and K fertilization as needed.