Speaker
Description
ABSTRACT
In our rapidly changing environment, new approaches to improving soil health are urgently required to optimize output and sustainability. To achieve sustainable production of yields and to protect soil fauna diversity, oil palm plantations must maintain or increase soil health. Furthermore, oil palm has already been planted in two cycles in the state of Sabah, and the influence on soil organisms and soil health is unclear. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of selected trace elements (STE) and PMgB application on soil health in relation to soil fauna diversity. The data were collected for three sampling period every six months from 2023 to 2024. Soil invertebrates were extracted using Berlese-Tullgren funnel. In total, 954 individuals were collected from order hymenoptera, opisthopora, acari, psocoptera, coleoptera, diplura, araneae, isopoda, diplopoda and nematoda. The highest number of individuals were collected from order Acari with 270 individuals while the lowest was from order diplopoda and nematoda with one individual respectively. One-way ANOVA showed that there were significant difference in all the sampling periods (p < 0.001). Alpha diversity showed that there was significant difference in the Shannon index for third sampling (one-way ANOVA, p < 0.05) but no significant difference for first and second sampling (one-way ANOVA, p > 0.05). Simpson and Margalef indices showed that there were no significant difference in all sampling periods (one-way ANOVA, p > 0.05).
Keywords: Diversity, abundance, soil invertebrates, fertilizer
