Assessing soil properties in various agroforestry lands in Kuningan District, West Java, Indonesia using Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS)

Abstract

Abstract. Purnama TJ, Wijayanto N, Wasis B. 2022. Assessing soil properties in various agroforestry lands in Kuningan District, West Java, Indonesia using Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS). Biodiversitas 23: 3012-3021. Land conversion from the forest into intensive agriculture and plantation causes soil degradation. Agroforestry is promoted as a win-win solution to land management that conserves and improves soil quality using a tree-based farming system. This study aimed to evaluate the physical soil quality of various land-use patterns, including agroforestry in Kuningan District, West Java. In doing so, we employed the Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS) method to be compared with laboratory analysis. Soil physical quality of seven land-use types was evaluated, namely natural forest, complex agroforestry of coffee, complex agroforestry of galangal, simple agroforestry of coffee, simple agroforestry of sweet potato, coffee monoculture and maize monoculture. The VESS technique was used to assess the quality of soil structure, whereas the conventional soil analysis method was used to determine soil bulk density and porosity. Other soil properties including soil organic carbon, cation-exchange capacity (CEC), pH, and soil macrofauna and mesofauna as well as dry litter weight, vegetation composition and individuals’ density were also obtained. The results of the VESS method (reflected as Sq value) revealed that the soil physical quality varied, ranging from Sq value of 1.16-3.1. Complex agroforestry of galangal had Sq value of 1.56 which was not significantly different from that of natural forest land (Sq 1.16), implying that both land uses had a similar physical soil quality. The VESS score and the soil property parameters have a reasonable correlation (r) (BD = 0.80, soil porosity = -0.80, SOC = -0.88, CEC = 0.89, diversity of fauna soil index = 0.82). This study shows that a multi-strata agroforestry system can be a strategy for recovering soil quality on degraded lands, and the VESS method can be used to analyze soil quality in these areas.

Unearthing Soil Structure Dynamics under Long-Term No-Tillage System in Clayey Soils

“…Ref. [15] found a strong relationship between VESS scores and bulk density, porosity and organic carbon. It was also observed in this study that the poor soil structure as assessed by VESS cannot be due to compaction, as the BD values were within the normal range [37].…”

“…Where necessary, SubVESS can be used to assess the subsoil structural quality. VESS has been validated in its application together with some soil physical, chemical and biological properties and has proven to be effective in assessing soil structure quality and therefore soil quality [2,[13][14][15][16][17]. VESS can enable farmers and land users to frequently assess and monitor soil quality as it is cheap, easy to execute and rapid.…”

The Potential of Cardamom Leaf in the Agroforestry System: Essential Oil Yield and 1.8-CINEOL Content

“…Gunawan, Wijayanto and Budi (2019) reported that eucalyptusbased vegetable agroforestry planting patterns in some age classes improved the soil chemical fertility status for CEC, available P, and available K into high categories. Another study showed that complex agroforestry and natural forest land had similar physical soil quality (Briliawan, Wijayanto & Wasis, 2022;Purnama, Wijayanto & Wasis, 2022). Furthermore, multi-strata agroforestry can be a solution for improving soil quality on degraded lands.…”

Promoting smart agroforestry of sengon-based arrowroot and cardamom to support food security

“…Agroforestry can improve the physical and chemical soil fertility, including C-organic content and cation exchange capacity [27]. The complex agroforestry and natural forest land have similar soil physical qualities [28].…”