International Journal of Agricultural Research, 4 (4): 146-152, 2009 ISSN 1816-4897 © 2009 Academie Journal Ine. Soil Degradation under Culture of Palm Oil Tree in the South of Ivory Cost °K Dallo,*A, Yao-Koumé, KA Alui,'A, Kouassi, °D. Boa and "Krogha Yves Nangal ‘Notional Center for Agricultural Research, 01 Bp 1740 Abidjan OL, RCI “Department of Earth Seienees ani Mining Resources, University of Covody, 22 Bp 582 Abidjan 22, RCL °Department of Seience and Environmental Management, University of Abobo-Adiame, 1 Bp 802 Abidjan 01, RCL Abstract: In order to measure the impact of planting onthe ground, the present study ws underaken to evaluate the evolution of particle siz, chemical and pysicocical properties of soil ding two consceutve eyoles of cultivation of palm ol woes. The condition of scl under palm grove wes compared toa control taken under natural Forest, Aler25 yeas of growing inthe secon gencaton, si samples were cllecedin two areas. Samples wer take: one in the 020 om ayer andthe other inthe inthe 40-60 em layer. Al samples were analyzedina sil scenes laboratory; The rails revealed degrdation ofthe pltysical, chemical and physicochemical characterises ofthe si. Planing palm ol trees resulted in the impoverishment ofthe soi in fine elements ae decline ofthe content in easily absorbed phosphorous. The cation exchange eupacity and the content in organic mater was reduced while the content of exchangeable abunianm quadrupled ‘words Palm oil tee, tertiary sands, degra is jum INTRODUCTION Land degradations a global and complex issue, Many forms of soll degradation are recognized ‘the decline of soil onganie matter and is biological activity and the destruction of soil structure, cil and trsining and orusts; declining chemical fertility; sol acidity; reduction in the area (Lahr and Ruellan, 2007), ‘The plisical (structure and particle size) and chemical characterises ofthe sil ean degrade under the effect of natural or human factors, particularly by the type of eulture. The particle size and the content ofthe soil in nourishing elements are subjected to unfavorable evolutions as a result of the types of eulture (Roose, 2004; Hamado er al, 2008), Sivalumar and Stefanski (2007) challenging considerations who claimed thatthe erosion under palm grove was not very different fon the one whe takes place under natural forest ane that the plantations of palm trees were similar to the natural forest, Therefore, it has been admitted that the replacement ofthe forest by the palm grove did net modify the equilibrium ofthe environment. As a ‘est the expression conversion ofthe natural topical forests in artificial forests has often been used to describe the fact that planting pal cil tees does not disrupt the environment, Afterward, other reseatchers reported phenomena which prove that planting degrades the characteristics of the soil. Boyer (1982) and Roose (2004) revealed phenomenon of eollapse of the soil under pln grove at Dabou, in ory Coust Similarly, dhe depradation ofthe superficial layer of soil ploughed for annual cultures in Cameroon, ‘Carresponaing Auer: Alle Yao-Kouane, Daina aah Sdace mi MiingRswarees ‘Univeiy of Corey, 06 Bp 88 Abdo UG RCT Tet 2050792015 146Int. J Aggie. Res, 4 (9: 16 2, 2009 However, all the earlier research under palm grove concerned only the structure of the sil. Those conducted! under subsistence crops took into account the particle size, the chemical and physicochemical parameters, but unfortately concemed only the supetical layer. As ares the ‘evolution ofthe parameters of the soll after planting emains badly known, ‘The present study aims at estimating the impact ofthe culture of pal cil tee on the patie size, the chemical and physicochemical parameters of the sci, at 0-00 em ip, MATERIALS AND METHODS: Site of Study “The stndy was conducted on the experimental search station Me, located at 24 km from Abidjan in the Northest, with the following geographical coordinates: 5°26’ latitude the north and 3°50" longituce west. The climate is of atten type with a literal facies. The experimental ste is @ ‘continental shelf covering a surface of 454 ba, The ground, developed from tertiary sands is of type Ferrallitie. The natwal vegetation is constituted of Tuwreaeantius africans aed Heisteria parvifli. Biological Material ‘The biological material used inthe study is « (Dura~Pisifira) Tenera hybuid of pal oil wee, derived ftom the first eyle of selection and having an annual potential production of 100 kg of regime per year, which represent a total annual yield of 14 t of regimes per hectare, The elementary experimental plot of land is constituted of sixteen (44) nearby palm trees, Preparation of the Ground and the Driving ofthe Culture ‘The palm ol tres were cltvated during two consecutive eyes, The first eyele was established after manual clearing ofthe natural forest. The forest aps were putin Andean and underwent light ‘buming, Forte second farming eyee, the palm trees of the frst generation were shot down at the age ‘of 21 and the new plantation was started ome year later, The planting ofthe second generation lasted 25 yours (1976-2001)..A covering legume (Pueraria javanica) was seeded ws ayre-culture, to preserve the sisks of soil erosion, dict sunshine and diving rain the early years of planting. Ferailizatton “Trees ofthe first generation received each 2 kg per yea of potassium chloride (KCI) frm the age of five years. This fertilization ceased two years before the slaughler. The tees of the second generation were subjected tothe fertilization schedule shown in Table 1, up to seven years Starting fiom the eighth year of eutivation, only potassium chloride (KCD was provided to the tes. The ‘anal dese was determined by the content of potassium in leaves (Table 2), Experimental Design "The effect of growing on the soil was determined. Measurements were made on the soil ayers ‘where the root system of palm oil trees isthe most active, Two layers of seil (0-20 and 40-60 em) were considered, The neighboring natural forest serves as contr Soil Sampling. After 25 yeats of growing in the second generation, soil samples were collected in two areas: the palm arove and the neighboring natural forest, In bath settings and on each sit, to soil samples ‘Table I: Fertilization sede rm the tht heh afer pation ‘Sonscusaton__Di (Lica. KO (KC) _F.0. Super sale —Ms0(Rissite) BO. (Bara) atteeyear 1040 “a0 st 10 “7Int. J Aggie. Res, 4 (9: 16 2, 2009 ‘Table 2 Schedule of ett in addi bsed onthe level fa ‘were taken one in the 0-20 em layer and the other in the in the 40-60 em layer where the root system is most active, Fach elementary plot on Tand covered an area of 648 mF (2724 mn) and fs four surmpling sites Laboratory Analysis ‘All soil simples wore enalyzedin sol science laboratory ofthe Institue National Polytechnique Felix Houphoost Boigny, Yamoussoulso. The pattiele size was determined by the Robinson’s pipes ‘method. The chemical parameters wore measured by atomni absorption spectrmctty and the cationic excliange capacity was determined by the method using CO(NE),Cl, The Oslen’s method modified bby Dabin was used to determine phosphorus content: ‘Statistical Analysis ‘The results were analyzed with the analysis of variance procedure of the statistical analysis softwate STATISTICA 71. The Turkey test was used to determine whether the means of the ferent woatments ware Sigrificandy differen at the probability Level of pc0.05 of 0.01. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to different variables und ffom the original matric of variables; sivall number of combinations correlated with each other were extracted. The projection ‘of ll inivials ut the ais ofthe main components allows t assess the dispersion of individuals and to better compare thet variability according to the approsch developed by Manly (1994), To adit ‘thatthe phenomenon is sufficiently expressed the cumulative sum of the contibutions ofits key factors should be about 70% (Thomtassone ef af, 1993), RESULTS AND DISCUSSION "The planting impoverished the sil in fine elements (Table 3,4). In the sufaoe layer (0-20 em), 135% of clay was lost and the content of coarse sand rose by 8%, In the doep layer (40-60 cm), ‘the clay content was reduced by’ 38%, the fine sill by 61% and the coarse sit by 26%, ‘The sail content in easly absorbed phosphorus decreased with the planting. The level of labile phosphorus fll by 759 in the surface layer and by 14% in the 40-60 em layer. Planting palin cil tres also affected the level of exchangeable bases, In the surface laysr, ‘exchangeable potassium dropped by 46%, calcium and magnesium decreased by 77 and 88%, respectively ‘Content in Exchangeable Potassium Tripled inthe 40.60 em Layer "The planting also resulted in 70 and 24% reduction ofthe Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) in the surface layer and the deep layer, respectively. The Sum of Exchangeable Bases (SEB) fll fiom 76 10 87% in the 0-20 em layer and was improved by 48% in the deep layer. In de surface layer the saturation evel ofthe (SBE/CEC) complex decreased by 64% while an improvernent of S0% was observed in the deep layer "The soil exchangeable acidity due to aluminum increased when moving fiom Forest to the pale grove, This ierease was finetion ofthe depth. In the surface layer, the content of exchangeable alurninum quadrupled, The level of organic rater in the soil decreases wit the planting. Inthe surface layer, 70% of total carbon and 64% of total nitrogen were lst. The C/N ratio declined by 17%. In 1gInt. J Agric Res, 4 (4): 146-152, 2009 ‘Toble 3: Physical and chemical characteris of tends der fet opal grove Pan aoe Dutle sie A) Tae 1206 Lee ey mie Teco Ls aa stro wor 20.2000 S209 orm 6 7b Bet Kimey1008) sb ca crea 100 0306 bisce Me"tna.100 9) oy Peace Ee e100 8) ake Aa36e SBE neq t00 3) ost 2a sppcee st baste Poon) Thee hae onganiemater C0 Ds0e na sailacdiy NO) os hon en 10a asus Pu Sis Sita AP oa 051.008 sic ‘Pex ‘Sait aaa Meaa flowed by salar aioe we no dvaicway Tifa “Sinuicws. © Hah sinitcaas A Cael ‘hear These Tol, exc Fschangeie Sauer of iin Coren cof of sesiomce ar cess ase ” Ce°sEncEe 98 ~ SHEP be * SECICEC IH a6 * Creat ost : sac 94 ™ SACEC-C 95 - a Awe 099 - Ape aa ™ ceca aos ™ Exchaha ase = Alea as = DIRE al aes “ Don an * @ Gresencec ose ~ cr'ses 098 = Kcr ass - kee" ass > wecte 2a = [Level of nificance p00 orpeDOI, "igi ah Sendo the deep layer, 40% of total nitrogen were lost and the CIN ratio decreased by 46%, The decline in cation exchange capacity was greater in the surface layer because of te reduced level of colloidal form ‘of organic matter and lower contents in fine elements Interactions Between Different Physicochemical Properties ofthe Soil ‘The Standardized Principal Component Analysis (PCA) applied to physical and chemical parameters of sil allowed to highlight the dynamics of soils components und thet interactions before and aftr exploitation. The frst two factors FI (45.65%) and F2 (4.15%) expressed more than 70% of the total variance and were selected forthe interpretation of results in lands under forest (ig. 1) ‘Thus, group (GI) consisted of pH, Ca” and SEB and SEB/CEC. The analysis ofthe correlation matrix M9Int. J Aggie. Res, 4 (9: 16 : eee & eI 7 ie é s F ‘ Bo i 7 7 = Foca ne as e XY Fact 1: 45.65% neti Fig. 1: Community Circles ofthe experimental sign F1-F? of the soil under forest show in Tale 4, showed strong corsatons between Ca and SBE (098), Ca and SEBICEC (0.98), fine stand pH (.94), fine silt and SEB/CEC (090), fine silt and exchangeable aluminum (- 89), coarse sit an CEC 60.98), Ca and earbon (-0 94), SEB and earbon (-0 94), SEB/CEC und earbon, (0.95) anda corlstion between Ca" and pi (0.54), SEB and pH (0.68), SEBICEC and pH (064). FForlands under plantation, the frst to factors FI (43.48%) and F2 (37.09%) expressed over 70% ofthe fetal variance and were selected fr te interpretation of results. Ths, the fst group (2) consisted of exchangeable aluminum, total aluminum, clay, CEC, phosphorus and pH, The second group of parameters (G3) consisted of Me", SEB CEC and Ca (Fig. 2. The analysis of the correlation matrix, shown in Table 4 also showed strong eoreations betwen the parameters. Asa ‘esl, the following associations were observed: clay and CEC (0.9), elay and pH (0.94, pH and CEC (0.93), pH and exchangeable alumimam (084), exchangeable aluminum and clay (0.92), total aluminum and clay (0 92), clay an phosphiomis (084) are pH ard phosphorus (072). The group (G2), exhibited a strong cerelation between K° and Ma" (0.88) K" and CEC (0.91); K° and C, (0:85), Ca and SEB / CEC (0.98) and Ca and SEB (098). ‘The impoverishment ofthe soil surface layer in fine cements iva result of leaching caused by the movement of water in the soil, which is more virulent under palm grove then in natural forest. This can be explained by the fact that the vegetal covering ofthe soil under palm grove is Less abundant than in natural tropical forest. Indeed, the soil under the pelm grove is poorly protected because Puerariajavantea which served as a covering crop is heiophile and disappears as soon a3 the palin tees become adults and produces enough shide (EI-Swaity ta. 1988; Hauser ef al, 2006). The higher CIN ratio observed under palm grove reflects a more rapid evolution ofthe sil exgunic matter 150Int. J Aggie. Res, 4 (9: 16 im r= ds os. 4 ¥ lo a 0 x 2 (al 3 as a Dy os i fete a eto ¥ Fig. 2: Community citeles ofthe experimental design F1-P2 of the seil under palm grove ‘The planting impoverished the sil in fines elements ane organic mater. This impoverishment induced low content in exchangeable bases, Inthe palm oil tr22, 90% of roots that ensure the absorption of nutrients are concentrated in the fist sixty eentimiters of soil Jourdan and Rey, 1997). Theteloe, the movement offine elements and organic mater outside this layer makes therm unailable forthe plant absomption system and are lost. also appears that a significant proportion of potassium inpotash fertilizers applied tothe fields certainly lost by leeching. This suggests splitting the armusl dose of potassium in several inputs in the soil und climate conditions. This loss ofthe atility of the soi is due toa d2ep leaching of fine particles ‘The activities ofthe soil adsorbent complex ate insured by the fines elements (clay minerals and ‘organic colloids) The weakness of the cation exchange capacity of the soil under palm grove is a ‘consequence ofits Lor content in fine elements. The original Weakness in cations is accentuated by The leaching of the adsorbent complex (Kane eta, 2006), The management of potassium ftization only on the basis of foliar diagnosis, without any monitoring of soil characteristics leads, in fat, to unsustainable exploitation of soil (Mafongoya et al, 2006). ‘The protected monoculture of palm oil tre has eaused soil acidification by the release of exetangeae aluminum ions which combine with phosphonss to form non absexbed phospho-aluminic complexes responsible for slowing the development ofthe root system Present reslls ae consistent with those of Haynes and Hamilton (1999), which points, 3 years after planting of erops in Central Cameroon, the loss of 51% of total earbon, 43% of total nitrogen, 20% labile phospliorus and 30% of sand fr the 0-10 em layer of si 131Int. J Aggie. Res, 4 (9: 16 2, 2009 Soil degradation under palm grove can be prevented or reduced by the culture of persistent covering crops, in ceder to provide asustainable protection of the soil against driving rain (EL-Swaify etal, 1988; Hauser eral 2006; Roose, 004), as well asthe adequate arrangement of palm ‘uees, in ender to split water mnofT and to reduce erosion strength CONCLUSION ‘This study showed that long monoculture of palm oil tree degrades the soil in terms of its ‘physical, chemical and physicochemical characterises, Under palm grove, there was a decline of sil Stock in nutrients, decrease ofits ability to store them ancl an aluminum acilificaion, This soit degradation was mostly related toa deep leaching of fine partiles. 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