Authors : Solehudin Bin Jeffry, Margaret Chan Kit Yok and Siraf Munir bin Mohammad
Abstract: The oil palm requires considerable high rate of fertilizers application to produce good yield. High rainfall intensity in coastal marginal soil increases nutrient loss due to the poor water retention and high porosity properties. This results in leaching of excess chemical fertilizer to underground water bodies causing high nutrient enrichment in waterway. Empty Fruit Bunches (EFB) is one of the waste products from palm oil extraction process and can be converted into EFB compost for improving soil physical properties by increasing the organic matter. This research was conducted to study the improvement of soil physical properties of coastal marginal soil amended with EFB compost for the growth of young oil palm. Three types of treatments were applying 100% NPK and combination of 50% EFB compost+50% NPK onto oil palm trees with age of 2 years old planted in coastal marginal soil replicated four times three times over the year at 3 months interval. A Complete Randomized Block Design (CRBD) was used as the experimental design. The parameters were soil bulk density, soil texture and soil moisture. The growth was determined by height and bole diameter of the palm. The result of soil moisture content did not provide evidential improvement in soil’s water holding capacity and moisture availability of the soil differences. Similarly, the change in soil bulk density values also were not indicative of any noteworthy observation. Overall, EFB compost aided adding organic matter to the soil, however, this did not cause substantial effects towards soil texture. Changes in palm height and bole diameter also did not give significant result in both treatments. Statistically, the result showed insignificant differences in all the parameters studied from the three treatments applied. It can be concluded that there is no drastic improvement in soil physical properties of coastal marginal soil observed in soil amendment using EFB compost over a period of 1 year study.
Solehudin Bin Jeffry, Margaret Chan Kit Yok and Siraf Munir bin Mohammad, 2019. Study on the Improvement of Coastal Marginal Soil after Amendment with EFB Compost and Growth of Young Oil Palm. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 14: 6062-6065.