Soil nutrient changes in Ultisols under oil palm in Johor, Malaysia

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Journal of Oil Palm and the Environment
Focus and Scope of Journal Journal of Oil Palm and Environment (JOPE) is an Open Access online forum to share knowledge that focuses on oil palm cultivation, palm oil production and applications. This will include the impacts resulting from such activities, particularly those related to the environment. JOPE will also feature articles related to issues and policies that affect any of the above palm oil industry activities. JOPE is targeted to reach a wide spectrum of readers. The contents of the Journal will be in the form of original research papers, short communications, editorials, viewpoints and comments. Due to its wide array of topics, JOPE will be useful to researchers, academicians, policy makers, practitioners and the general public who are associated with or have an interest in palm oil and the global oils and fats industry.

Journal of Oil Palm & the Environment (JOPE), Vol 1 (2010)

Soil nutrient changes in Ultisols under oil palm in Johor, Malaysia

Abstract

Soil pH, organic C and total N decreased with time in the oil palm agro-ecosystem. However, the decline in soil pH was slight whereas those related to organic C and total N corresponded to the period when the oil palm biomass was burnt or partially burnt at replanting. The large increases in soil organic C obtained with the zero burn replanting technique were favorable. There were large positive changes in soil P and exchangeable K, which might be attributed to the applications of higher rates of phosphate rocks and K fertilizers especially from the 1990s following the results of fertilizer response trials. Exchangeable Mg were lower in burn or partial burn areas but were higher in zero burn areas. This study shows that the soil fertility status of the Ultisols under oil palm in Johor has been enhanced through current fertilizer management practices and zero burn replanting technique.

Patrick Hong Chuan Ng, Huang Huang Gan, Kah Joo Goh

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