Management of soil water retentation through use of organic materials for enhancing performance of oil palms on inland soils
1997
Lim, K.H. | Chuah, J.H. | Ho, C.Y.
The clayey coastal soils in Peninsular Malaysia generally support high oil palm yields due mainly to their high water holding capacity and groundwater table. However, increasing hectares of oil palm will be planted on poorer soils, with sub-optimal soil moisture regime, as a result of rapid conversion of rubber areas in the country. To investigate on ways to improve availability of soil moisture for enhancing palm performance, a number of trials were carried out through applications of large amount of organic materials (biomass) from the oil palm system , namely, palm trunk chips (PTC), empty fruit bunches (EFB) and palm oil mill effluent (POME), through surface and sub-surface (planting hole) treatments. It was found that buried PTC, EFB and POME sludge cake greatly enhance growth of immature palms grown on a poorly structured Kedah soil series. Surface mulching with palm trunk chips (about 200 kg/palm) was found to give better growth than mulching using EFB at the same rate. This is due to the slower breakdown of the trunk chips compared with EFB, resulting in a longer water conserving effect. Application of treated POME through a flatbed system significantly increased organic matter content and water holding capacity of the soil. Cost of mulching immature palms with the in-situ trunk chippings was estimated to be about 50% lower than EFB mulching, mainly due to saving in transportation cost of EFB from the palm oil mill to the application site.
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