Soil conservation and land management for sustainable food production

Christopher Teh Boon Sung Uni. Putra Malaysia cbsteh@yahoo.com

Mulching materials

Pruned oil palm fronds

Eco-mat (4 pieces; 2x1x0.02 m)

EFB and Silt pit (soil trench)

EFB (1000 kg per plot 4 trees)

Silt pit (4x1x0.5m)

SILT PIT

runoff

Water and Nutrients Redistribution

Chemical characteristics
Property C (g kg-1) N (g kg-1) Leaflets 509.02 a 23.25 a Rachis 487.94 c 4.41 d Fronds 499.42 b 12.36 b Empty fruit bunches (EFB) 486.42 cd 8.73 c Eco-mat 484.70 d 6.00 cd

P (g kg-1)
K (g kg-1) Ca (g kg-1) Mg (g kg-1) Na (g kg-1) Lignin (g kg-1) C/N

1.12 a
13.40 cd 10.92 a 1.63 a 0.08 c 249.6 22.53 e

0.24 c
17.18 ab 4.19 c 0.29 d 0.21 ab 209.6 112.77 a

0.54 b
15.07 bc 6.38 b 0.71 bc 0.15 bc 224.5 41.38 d

0.51 b
18.90 a 2.04 d 1.22 b 0.27 a 285.0 56.15 c

0.30 c
11.26 d 1.72 d 0.50 d 0.20 ab 294.5 82.09 b

Decomposition rate
Leaflets Rachis Fronds EFB Eco-mat

Elements released per kg mulch

Element (g kg-1)
C N P K Ca Mg

Leaflets

Rachis

Fronds

Empty fruit bunches (EFB)

425.13 b 4.25 c 0.31 bc 17.99 a 1.30 c 0.86 ab

Eco-mat

471.72 a 21.36 a 1.00 a 10.98 bc 9.97 a 1.46 a

360.38 c 1.16 e 0.09 d 13.72 b 2.42 b 0.11 d

400.42 b 8.28 b 0.41 ab 12.71 bc 5.11 a 0.59 b

418.30 b 2.51 d 0.16 cd 9.65 c 1.02 c 0.26 c

Elements released into 1 m2 ground

Element (kg m-2)

Fronds

EFB

ECO

C
N P K Ca Mg

1.730
0.030 0.002 0.041 2.128 0.002

4.990
0.070 0.006 0.215 1.675 0.010

1.350
0.010 0.001 0.031 0.306 0.001

Soil pH
OPF

Soil C

OPF

Soil C sequestration
Soil C (kg m-2) After Increase

Mulch

EFB

C applied after four annual applications (kg m-2, on dry weight basis) 23.42

Soil depth (m)

Before

0.00-0.15 0.15-0.30 0.00-0.15 0.15-0.30

3.66 3.21 3.91 3.01

5.75 3.99 4.07 3.28

2.09 0.78 0.16 0.27

ECO

6.26

OPF

8.55

0.00-0.15 0.15-0.30

4.30 3.36

4.74 3.51

0.44 0.15

12, 7, and 7 % of the C added onto the soil surface by the EFB, ECO and OPF, respectively, contributed in increasing soil C content at 0-0.30 m depth

Soil N

OPF

Soil P
OPF

Soil K
OPF

Soil Ca
OPF

Soil Mg
OPF

Leaf N

OPF

Leaf K and Mg

OPF

OPF

Soil aggregate stability

Available soil water content (AWC)

OPF

Mean daily soil water content

Conservation practice Year Mean total Conservation water practice content (mm) at 00.75 m depth 220.02 ECO Year Mean total water content (mm) at 00.75 m depth 248.50

OPF

2008

2008

2009
Both

261.46
246.82

2009
Both

273.73
264.82

EFB

2008 2009 Both

296.51 295.91 296.12

SIL

2008 2009 Both

268.86 278.27 274.95

Silt pit dimensions

Treatment

Silt pit size (m) Width Length Depth

Volume (m3)

Opening or floor Area (m2)

Wall to floor area (W:F) ratio

H0
H1 H2

Control (no pit)

1.01.01.0 1.51.01.0

-1.0 1.5

-3.0 4.5 min

-4.0 3.3

H3
H4

2.01.00.5
2.01.01.0

1.0
2.0

6.0
6.0 max

3.0
3.0

Soil water content

340

min 2nd min

320

Water in Soil (mm)

300

280

260

H0
H1 H2

240

H3

220

max
LSD (5%) = 13 mm

H4

200

180

jan

feb

mar

apr

may

jun

jul

aug

sep

oct

nov

dec

Month

Soil nutrients (0-30 cm)

Drying out time

100 90
80 70

Water Head (cm)

60 50 40
30

H1 H2

H1 (1*1*1) H2 (1*1.5*1) H3 (1*2*0.5) H4 (1*2*1)

H3 and H4

20 10 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Time (hr)

Horizontal wetting distance

0.42

Volumetric Soil Water Content (cm 3 cm-3)

0.37

H4
0.32

H1 H2 H3
H1 (1*1*1) H2 (1*1.5*1)
H3 (1*2*0.5)

0.27

H4 (1*2*1)

0.22

0.17

0.12 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

Distance From Silt pit Walls(m)

Water fluxes through pit wall and floor

0.7

0.6

flux through wall only flux through floor only

Total Water Output (m3)

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0 H1 (4) H2 (3.3) H3 (3) H4 (3)

Treatments

Conclusions
At the usual mulching application rates, EFB remains the best material to increase soil physical and chemical properties, as well as nutrient content in oil palm leaves About 10% of C is stored in soil from oil palm mulching materials Silt pits can also be an effective soil and water conservation method but need large W:F ratio pit floor depth no lower than rooting zone