Mapping Nutrient Status in Oil Palm Plantation Using Geographic Information System

Background and Objective: In oil palm plantation, the fertilization is the most prominent for nutrient status evaluation and costly manageable input in oil palm cultivation. At this moment, the economic significance of nutrient management for oil palm, acquisition of accurate and timely information about its agronomy is becoming a critical issue for realization of the best management strategies. Hence, the objective of study was to map nutrient status in oil palm plantation in Selangor, Malaysia by using Geographic Information System (GIS) technique. Materials and Methods: To prepare samples and determine macronutrients concentration (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and calcium) in leaf and in soil, this study had used the standardised methods. Then, leaf and soil nutrients data were computed into GIS software to generate maps of macronutrients concentration and overlaid to produce oil palm nutrient status map. Results: The results found nitrogen concentration is classified as optimum in leaf and in soil. Potassium concentration is classified as high in leaf and deficiency in soil. Magnesium and calcium concentrations are classified as moderate in leaf and deficiency in soil, whilst phosphorus is classified as deficiency in leaf and in soil. Overall, blocks of 0.231, 0.302, 0.304 and 0.305 represent the highest level of nutrient status. The oil palm nutrient status map obtaines the majority of plantation area is classified as deficiency with total area of 95.6 ha (76%) and about 30.2 ha (24%) is moderate. Conclusion: Low amount of nutrients show the nutrient status in this plantation area is unbalance.