Land suitability for Persea americana as one of multi-purpose tree species at community agroforestry land in Langkat District North Sumatra Indonesia

Abstract

Persea americana or commonly call as alpukat in Indonesia is one of Multy Purpose Tree Species (MPTS), found in agroforestry land in Langkat District, North Sumatra. This study aimed to map the distribution of land suitability for P. americana in Langkat District, North Sumatra, Indonesia. This research was conducted by survey method to collect soil samples based on land unit in the field. Land unit was obtained from overlay some maps (land use map, soil map and slope map) using Geographic Information System (GIS) in the research location. There were ten land units in the study area. Land suitability was evaluated based on the matching method. The GIS also was used to map the distribution of land suitability. The results showed that the actual land suitability classes for P. americana were moderately suitable (S2) and marginal suitable (S3). Moderately suitable with area 11.20 ha (0.1%) in Land Unit 8. This area has limiting factor in water avaibility (wa), root zone medium (rc), and erosion hazard (eh). Marginal suitable is located in several places, i.e. Land Unit 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9 with wa was limiting factor (10,022.88 ha; 88.96%); Land Unit 2 and 10 with wa and rc were limiting factor (926.48 ha; 8.22%); and Land Unit 3 with wa, rc and eh were limiting factor (308.19 ha; 2.73%).