Effect of Compacted Compound Slow Release Fertilizer to Immature Oil Palm Growth and Yield on Xanthic Hapludox, in Merangin, Jambi

Oil palm is one of promoted plantation commodity that is developed intensively by the government. This phenomena need to be supported by an appropriate management mainly the fertilization aspects to maintain its productivity at high level. Field experiment has been conducted to test the effect of the compacted compound slow release fertilizer, formulated in stick fertilizer, to immature oil palm growth and fruit bunches production on Xanthic Hapludox from 2003 to 2005. Seven fertilization treatments, namely farmer\u27s practice (A); recommended fertilization (B); controll (C); 1 fertilizer stick/trunk (D); 2 fertilizer sticks/trunk (E); 3 fertilizer sticks/trunk (F); and 2 fertilizer sticks combined with foliar fertilizer (Fosfo N)(G) have been tested on the experiment. All treatments were arranged in randomize complete block design with three replications. The result showed that the tested fertilizer could improve oil palm growth and increased fruit bunches production significantly. The highest yield was provided by 3 fertilizer stick/trunk (G) with growth scoring 90.30% and 31.43 kg of fruit bunches/trunk. This yield was significantly different with all others tested treatment, except recommended treatment (B) with growth scoring and fruit bunches were 87.30% and 30.57 kg/trunk/month, respectively. Compared to the recommended treatment, the application of the tested fertilizer could decrease the total fertilizers required by the farmers due to the increasing of fertilization efficiency about 50-60%. Based on nutrients dynamic and number of fertilizers required by oil palm, the existing recommended fertilization should be changed in order tomaintain nutrient balance in the soil. The proposed changes of recommended fertilization is by increasing of potassium dosage because oil palm absorp potassium at the highest number from the soil. Besides that, sulfur should be applicated due to the higher absorption by the crop from the soil, whereas the highly weathered soil has lower capacity in supplying sulfur for crop growth so that sulfur is adsorp extensively from the soil and causes imbalance nutrient in the soil

Characteristics of Tropical Drained Peatlands and CO2 Emission Under Several Land Use Types

Converting of tropical rain forest into plantation and agriculture land uses has been claimed as a main factor that affects to global warming and climate change. In order to provide a comprehensive information of the issue, a field observation on  peat properties in relation to CO2 emission under several land use types had been done  at Lubuk Ogong Village, Pelalawan District, Riau Province from May 2011-April 2012. Five land use types, namely A. mangium, bare land, oil palm, rubber, and secondary forest have been selected in the study site. Observations were made for chemical and physical properties, above and below ground C-stock and CO2 emissions. The results showed a higher variation of peat depth and a below ground C-stock was almost linearly with a peat depth. Below ground C-stock for each land use was around 2848.55 Mg ha-1, 2657.08 Mg ha-1 5949.85 Mg ha-1,  3374.69 Mg ha-1, 4104.87 Mg ha-1 for secondary forest, rubber, oil palm, bare land, and A. mangium, respectively. The highest above ground C-stock observed on a secondary forest was 131.5 Mg ha-1, followed by the four years A. mangium 48.4 Mg ha-1, the 1-2 years A. mangium 36.6 Mg ha-1, and the 4 years A. mangium 34.4 Mg ha-1. While, CO2 emissions in the study sites were 66.58±21.77 Mg ha-1yr-1, 66.17±25.54 Mg ha-1yr-1, 64.50±31.49 Mg ha-1yr-1, 59.55±18.30 Mg ha-1yr-1, 53.65±16.91 Mg ha-1yr-1 for bareland, oil palm, secondary forest, A. mangium, and rubber, respectively. [How to Cite: IG Putu Wigena, Husnain, E Susanti, and F Agus. 2015. Characteristics of Tropical Drained Peatlands and CO2 Emission under Several Land Use Types. J Trop Soils 19: 47-57. Doi: 10.5400/jts.2015.20.1.47][Permalink/DOI: www.dx.doi.org/10.5400/jts.2015.20.1.47]&nbsp

Soil and Climate Characterization and Its Suitability for Nucleus Smallholder Oil Palm at Sei Pagar, Kampar District, Riau Province

The management of nucleus smallholder oil palm after conversion is mostly improper with the promoted management practice, consequently oil palm yield decreases due to decreasing of land quality. For this reason, the study has been done to characterize land condition, to assess land suitability for oil palm and to correlate soil properties against oil palm yield. The study was conducted at Sei Pagar, Kampar District, Riau Province from January 2007 to March 2008. Soil erosion was estimated using Universal Soil Loss Equation, while land suitability was processed using Land Evaluation Technical Guidance for Agriculture Commodities, and correlation of soil properties to oil palm yield was calculated using Multiple Regression Analysis on SPSS Version 12.0. The study showed that climate conditions was favorable for oil palm growth and production, with annual rainfall 2,339 mm year-1, air temperature 26.04oC, and relative humidity 81.2%. Soil erosion varied from 1.322-3.423 t ha-1 year-1. The soils were dominated by Typic Haplosaprist and Terric Haplosaprist covering 8,641 ha with land suitability of S2-f (moderately suitable with nutrients retention as limitng factor). The other soil are Humic Dystrudepts and Typic Dystrudepts covering 587 ha with land suitability of S2-f,n (moderately suitable with nutrients retention and nutrient supply as limiting factors). The soil properties of Typic Haplosaprist and Terric Haplosaprist affected to oil palm yield are organic-C, nitrogen content, P2O5 content, and available-S. Meanwhile, on Humic Dystrudepts and Typic Dystrudepts, oil palm yield was affected by organic-C, nitrogen content, available-S, and aluminum content

The Effect of Silvy Pastural Systems on Carrying Capacity and Soil Property of Grass Land

This experiment was the last activity of soil-crop management experiment to improve quantity and quality of fodder of grass land. This experiment has been carried out since 1994/1995 cropping season in Selengen Village, Lombok 8arat District, West Nusa Tenggara. In 1998/1999 the observation was focused on carrying capacity and soil properties. Feeding through grazing and cut and carry was applied to measure the carrying capacity. The experiment used randomized complete block design and the treatments were arranged to split split plot design replicated four times. The main-plot treatments were (1) with wind breaker and (2) without wind breaker. The sub-plot treatments were four combinations of native grass land, introduced grass, and introduced legume: (A) native grass land, (B) native grass land + Paspalum sp.,(C) native grass land + Arachis gambrara, and (D) native grass land + Paspalum sp. + Arachis gambrara. The sub-sub-plot treatments were (a) grazing and (b) cut and carry. Furthermore the combination between treatments with wind breaker (1) and native grass land +Paspalum sp. +Arachis gambrata (D) was called silvy-pasture system, while the combination between treatments without wind breaker (2) and native grass land (A) was named native grass land. The results indicated that the highest fresh fodder production and carrying capacity both for the first and second harvesting were shown by the silvy-pasture system. The yields were 35.01 and 28.47 t/ha for the first and second harvesting, respectively. Meanwhile, the carrying capacity of the first harvesting using grazing and cut and carry were 1.47 and 1.75 cattle/ha/year with increasing life weights were 0.46 and 0.29 kg/day, respectively. For the second harvesting, the carrying capacities were 1.10 and 1.16 cattle/ha/year with increasing life weight about 0.28 kg/day, respectively. Introduction of Paspalum sp. and Arachis gambrata significantly improved carrying capacity of native grass land