Soil diversity influences on oil palm productivity in ultramafic ecosystems, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract. Alam S, Purwanto BH, Hanudin E, Putra ETS. 2020. Soil diversity influences oil palm productivity in ultramafic ecosystems, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 5521-5530. Ultramafic is a unique ecosystem with an environmental gradient due to its high soil diversity. Understanding soil diversity in ultramafic ecosystems is fundamentally required to support sustainable agriculture management, particularly in oil palm plantation. This study investigated the relationship between soil diversity and productivity of oil palm in ultramafic ecosystems, Southeast Sulawesi. The soil survey has taken in Oheo, Langgikima, and Routa districts. Soil sample was collected from various toposequence, including upper, middle, and lower slope to describe soil properties, including soil texture, pH, CEC, SOC, TN, Av-P, Exc-K, Exc-Ca, and Exc-Mg. Whilst observation of oil palm productivity was done by recording the fresh-weight of fruit yield in hectare unit during a month. The results showed that the soil characteristics from the three sites were significantly different in soil texture, pH, CEC, Av-P, Exc-Ca, and Exc-Mg. A similar trend was also recorded in oil palm productivity wherein the highest oil palm productivity was discovered in Oheo (556.41+96.26 kg ha-1), followed by Langgikima (501.11+54.84 kg ha-1) and Routa (163.19+17.55 kg ha-1). Our study founded: pH, CEC, Av-P, Exc-K, Exc-Ca, and Exc-Mg significantly affected the productivity of oil palm. Based on these results, the soil diversity highly affected oil palm productivity in ultramafic ecosystems.

Quality of soil from the nickel mining area of Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, engineered using earthworms (Pheretima sp.)

“…Generally, rocks at this location are classified into ultramafic formations (Jahidin et al, 2020), and the soil types developed from these formations are characterized by the following. They include, low in organic matter, available P, cation exchange capacity, exchangeable Ca, exchangeable K, hydraulic conductivity, soil biological activity, and fertility, however, constantly high plasticity (Safiuddin et al, 2011;Tufaila et al, 2011;Hatfield and Walthall, 2015;Alam et al, 2020). Nickel ore mining activities through a series of soil extraction and removal activities have an impact on landscape changes, loss of natural vegetation, and a deeper decline in soil quality and fertility (Vithanage et al, 2019;Haigh et al, 2020).…”

Soil chemical properties influences on the growth performance of Eucalyptus urophylla planted in dryland ecosystems, East Nusa Tenggara

“…Soil is the primary component of ecosystems which provide essential roles in espousing plant growth and development (Alam et al, 2020). It supplies water and nutrient which importantly required by the plant for ensuring their physiological process (Guo et al, 2019).…”

Influence of toposequence on soil quality of sugarcane plantation area in Bombana Regency, Indonesia

“…The results of soil analysis showed that soil pH tended to decrease from the upper slope to the lower slope (Table 1). This difference in soil pH is caused not only by the parent material factor of the soil originating from acid rocks but also by the higher intensity of leaching on the flatter lower slopes [22,23]. This low soil pH has a major impact on the condition of soil fertility at the study site, especially the availability of macro and micronutrients needed by sugarcane plants to form high sugar yields.…”