Effectivity of Soil Amelioration on Peat Soil and Rice Productivity

Application of ameliorant on peat soil has an important role on improving fertility status of peat soil via increasing soil pH, reducing organic acids and toxic ions, and also increasing nutrients availability. Soil amelioration with polyvalent cations (Fe, Al, Cu, and Zn) using slag, lateritic soils, and river mud are effective to reduce harmful effects of phenolic acids. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of soil amelioration on peat soil chemical properties and rice productivity (both biomass and yield). The study was consisted of two sets of experiments, namely soil incubation experiment conducted in the laboratory and a pot experiment conducted in the greenhouse. The experiment was designed in a complete randomized design (CRD) with 14 treatments and 4 replications. The results showed that the application of slag and dolomite as ameliorant showed a significant effect on increasing pH, base saturation (BS), and the amount of exchangeable-Ca and -Mg. Moreover, slag application was better in improving chemical properties of peat soil as it increased pH, base saturation (BS), and nutrient content (Ca, silica, ash and Fe). Application of burnt trass + dolomite (TD) showed no significant effect on increasing silica content in the peat soil. The application of slag resulted in the highest dry weight of biomass and grains of rice plants. The application of slag on peat soil in general provides better effects on the soil chemical conditions compared to that of trass, dolomite or ameliorant combination [trass + dolomite (TD) with slag]