Study of oil palm root architecture with variation of crop stage and soil type vulnerable to drought
Lisma Safitri
Sri Suryanti
Valensi Kautsar
Agung Kurniawan
Fajar Santiabudi
Root arhitecture is affected by watertable level,
characteristic of soil, organic matter and also the crop stages. Root
architecture spread horizontally and vertically which each consist of primary,
secondary, tertiary and quaternary downward root. The oil palm root observation
with variation of crop stage and soil type showed that the root of oil palm
plant year 2008 on spodosols soil spread along 650 cm horizontally from the
trunk and penetrate downward in range of 9-28 cm vertically. Planted in the
same type of soil, the root of oil palm plant year 2004 spread along 650 cm
horizontally and reached to downward in a larger range from 3 to 57 cm
vertically. As a comparison, the root architecture of oil palm on inceptisols soil
established the range much greater vertically than the previous. The root of
oil palm plant year 2008 spread along 640 cm horizontally and penetrate
downward in range of 52-90 cm vertically. With the variation of crop age, the
root of oil palm plant year 2003 spread along 650 cm horizontally and reached
to downward in a larger range from 150 to 200 cm vertically. Based on this
study, root architecture of oil palm was varied and need to be detailed. The precise
root architecture of oil palm allows a better understanding on hydrological
properties of oil palm root particularly which is cultivated on soil type
vulnerable to drought. Referring to this root architecture, it was enable to
develop the study on early drought detection of oil palm to optimise production
and towards oil palm sustainability.