Peat Soil In Malaysia

Soil sci march 1984 google scholar.

Peat soil in malaysia. Sarawak supports the largest area of peat soils in malaysia. Paramananthan s zauyah s lim cp chan yk boaklan d 1984 proposals for a unified classification of organic soils in malaysia. Workshop on classification and management of peat in malaysia. While high water tables are responsible for preventing the organic material from decaying the flipside is that when these peat soils are drained they are again exposed to oxygen.

Commonly in malaysia and the colour of peat is dark reddish brown to black 8 9. The behaviour and composition of these peats are different from each other accentuating the need for a useful engineering geological classification of peat soils. Area in malaysia followed by peninsular malaysia 642 918 ha. Peat soils encompass 2 457 730 ha 7 45 of malaysia s total land area 32 975 800 ha.

Saprists have very highly decomposed peat materials as shown in table 2. Peat is also well known to have high. Thus the majority of lowland peat soils in malaysia are classified as saprists under usda soil taxonomy or as histosols under fao unesco classification. Thus the amount of co2 emission when the peat soil is drained is lower for one that has sapric instead of fibric material.

However major problems were encountered especially on deep peat and it was not until the eighties that oil palms are successful grown on it. Draining peat soils releases carbon dioxide. Soil compaction is damaging to gardens and reduces water absorption and plant growth. Not only is peat moss absorbent it also does not compact unlike other organic materials.

There are 2 4 million hectares of peat in malaysia with 1 5 million hectares occurring in sarawak alone. Muhammad aqeel ashraf phd is a senior lecturer at faculty of science and natural resources university malaysia sabah his field of interest is environmental soil science. 1 697 847 ha 69 08 of the total peatland. Peat moss retains water much better than average soils which increases the absorbency of any potting mixes and garden soils that use peat moss.

In total malaysia alone is estimated to have 9 gt of carbon contained in its peatlands. He has published more than 100 research articles on the topic. Oil palms are cultivated on peat on a large scale since the mid fifties. In british peat soils are classified as bog and fen peat.

Radiah othman phd is an associate professor and head of land management department faculty of agriculture university putra malaysia. Soils that have 50 cm or more organic soil matter within 100 cm or more. The soil division of sarawak malaysia has adopted a definition for organic soil that is based on profile partition i e.