PRUNING OF LEAVES

          In oil palm two leaves are produced per month. Therefore, it becomes necessary to prune excess leaves so as to gain access to bunches for harvest. Severe pruning will adversely affect both growth and yield of palm, cause abortion of female flowers and also reduce the size of the leaves. It was suggested that palms aged 4 - 7 years should retain 6 - 7 leaves per spiral (48 - 56), those aged 8 - 14 years 5 - 6 leaves per spiral (40 - 49) and those above 15 years should have 4 - 5 leaves per spiral (32 - 40). Leaf pruning is carried out in India using chisels so that leaf base that is retained on the palm is as short as possible or otherwise it may catch loose fruits, allow growth of epiphytes and the leaf axils form a potential site for pathogens. The leaf petioles are removed by giving a clear cut at a sufficient distance from the base of the petiole using a sharp chisel for young palms and with the long sickle in taller palms.

         Pruning is preferably carried out at the end of the rainy season. It is also better to carry it out during the low crop season when labourers are also available. Pruning is confined to only lower senile leaves during initial harvests but when canopy closes in later years, leaves are cut so as to retain two whorls of fronds below the ripe bunch.

NUTRIENTS - FUNCTIONS AND DEFICIENCY SYMPTOMS IN PALM OIL

The effect of major nutrients on growth and yield of oil palm has been studied in most of the oil palm growing countries in Asia and Africa.

      a) Nitrogen: In oil palm, characteristic yellowing symptoms are developed under N deficiency conditions. Nitrogen is found to be essential for rapid growth and fruiting of the palm. It increases the leaf production rate, leaf area, net assimilation rate, number of bunches and bunch weight. Excessive application of nitrogen increases the production of male inflorescence and decreases female inflorescence thereby reducing the sex ratio.

      b) Phosphorus: In oil palm seedlings, P deficiency causes the older leaves to become dull and assume a pale olive green colour while in adult palms high incidence of premature desiccation of older leaves occurs. Phosphorus application increases the bunch production rate, bunch weight, number of female inflorescences and thereby the sex ratio. However, lack of response to P due to P fixation in soils is very common in the tropics. Eventhough the main effect of phosphorus on the productivity of the palm has not been significant in most studies, it gives a positive interaction with nitrogen and potassium.

      c) Potassium: When potassium is deficient, growth as well as yield is retarded and it is translocated from mature leaves to growing points. Under severe deficiency, the mature leaves become chlorotic and necrotic. Confluent orange spotting is the main K deficiency condition in oil palm in which chlorotic spots, changing from pale green through yellow to orange, develop and enlarge both between and across the leaflet, veins and fuse to form compound lesions of a bright orange colour. Necrosis within spots is common, but irregular. Mid crown yellowing is another prominent K deficiency condition of the palm in which leaves around the 10th position on the phyllotaxy become pale in colour followed by terminal and marginal necrosis. A narrow band along the midrib usually remains green. There is a tendency for later formed leaves to become short and the palm has an unthrifty appearance with much premature withering.

Potassium removal is large compared to the normal exchangeable K content in most top soils. It is mostly required for the production of more number of bunches, maximum number of female inflorescences, increased bunch weight and also for increasing the total dry matter production and yield.

      d) Magnesium: In adult oil palm and in seedlings in the field, severe Mg deficiency symptoms are most striking and have been named as ‘orange frond’. While the lower most leaves are dead, those above them show a gradation of colouring from bright orange on the lower leaves to faint yellow on leaves of young and intermediate age. The youngest leaves do not show any discolouration. The most typical Mg-deficiency symptom is the shading effect in which the shaded portion of the leaflet will be dark green while the exposed portion of the same leaflet is chlorotic. Heavy rates of K applications induce Mg-deficiency, particularly on poor acid soils.

Among the secondary nutrients, calcium and sulphur, and probably chlorine, may not pose much problems to oilpalm cultivation in the country.

      e) Micronutrients: Micronutrient elements, iron, manganese, copper and zinc are not generally found limiting in the nutrition of oil palm on acid soil conditions. Boron deficiency is occasionally found on young palms in the field showing a reduction of leaf area in certain leaves producing incipient ‘little leaf’, advanced ‘little leaf’ with extreme reduction of leaf area and bunching and reduction in the number of leaflets and ‘fish-bone’ leaf. The ‘fish-bone’ leaves are abnormally stiff with leaflets reduced to projections. Leaf malformations including ‘hook leaf’ and corrugated leaflets are some other associated symptoms. Soil application of 50 - 200 g borax decahydrate, per palm, depending on age, and severity of symptoms is practiced for correcting the malady.

http://agritech.tnau.ac.in

Ecological studies on Pythium splendens braun in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) plantation soils

Summary

The isolation of Pythium splendens Braun by a root-baiting technique showed that the infective propagules of the fungus were numerically 12 times as great in cultivated soil as in non-cultivated secondary forest soil.

In cultivated oil palm nursery soil, the propagules of the fungus were found to be most abundant at a depth of between 15 and 30 cm below ground level. The recovery of the fungus from the soil around the roots of diseased oil palm seedlings was 4 times as great as that from around the roots of healthy seedlings. Farmyard manure increased the recovery of the fungus from naturally infested soil, whilst green manure reduced it.

The recovery of the fungus from soil declined sharply with decrease in soil moisture content and also with the length of storage of air-dried soil.

The recovery of the fungus from nursery soil was high in July–October and low in November–January and these variations corresponded with seasonal fluctuations in soil moisture content.

http://link.springer.com

Using Soil Water Depletion to Measure Spatial Distribution of Root Activity in Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) Plantations

Abstract

Knowledge of where roots are active is crucial for efficient management of nutrients in tree crops but measurement of root activity is problematic. Measurement using soil water depletion is an approach that has not been tested in a humid climate. We hypothesised that the three dimensional distribution of root activity of a tree crop in the humid tropics (a) can be determined by measuring soil water depletion during rain-free periods, and (b) is influenced by environment (soil type and climate) and surface management. A field study was carried out in which soil water content was measured and water uptake calculated (by difference between soil water content at beginning and end of rain-free periods) for different surface management zones and depths (0.1 m intervals to 1.6 m depth) under oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) at a loam–clay site and a sandy site. Significant differences were measured between sites and between surface management zones at each site. At both sites water uptake was highest under the weeded zone close to the palm stem, slightly lower under the zone where pruned fronds are placed, and lowest under the path used for removing harvested fruit. Vertical distribution of root activity differed between the sites, with higher activity near the surface at the finer textured site. Total water uptake values were lower than estimates of evapotranspiration made using climate data. The difference was probably largely due to water uptake from deeper than 1.6 m. This study showed that the spatial distribution of tree root activity in a humid climate could be quantified using a relatively simple method.

http://link.springer.com

menjaga hutan dalam perkebunan kelapa sawit

Pengelolaan hutan berkelanjutan yang bertujuan untuk Pengurangan Emisi dari Deforestasi dan Degradasi Hutan (REDD +) termasuk pembayaran kepada pemilik tanah dan dapat memberikan manfaat ekonomi dari alternatif penggunaan lahan seperti perkebunan kelapa sawit. Jika faktor-faktor kunci tertentu diselesaikan, REDD + secara bersamaan dapat mencapai keberhasilan ekonomi dan sosial sambil membawa manfaat ekologi dan berkontribusi terhadap mitigasi perubahan iklim.

Para peneliti menemukan bahwa pembayaran REDD + hanya tiga dolar per ton emisi CO2 dihindari membuat pengelolaan hutan lestari di lahan gambut secara finansial lebih menarik daripada membangun perkebunan kelapa sawit. Konversi hutan lahan gambut melalui penebangan menyebabkan emisi CO2 yang berkelanjutan dari tanah terekspos. Kebanyakan perkebunan kelapa sawit di Kalimantan yang didirikan di daerah-daerah tersebut persis. Temuan lain adalah bahwa bahkan di tanah mineral yang kurang kaya karbon, pembayaran REDD + $ 7 / t CO2 akan mendorong pemilik lahan untuk menjaga dan memelihara hutan daripada dibandingkan dengan konversi lahan untuk perkebunan kelapa sawit.
Puluhan tahun penebangan hutan secara intensif telah menyebabkan wilayah luas padang rumput terdegradasi di Indonesia. Para peneliti menemukan bahwa konversi ini padang rumput terdegradasi menjadi perkebunan kelapa sawit dapat memiliki manfaat yang signifikan bagi masyarakat. Budidaya daerah ini merupakan peluang besar untuk kedua memenuhi permintaan minyak sawit dan menarik karbon dari atmosfer. Dalam skenario ini, tidak ada deforestasi terjadi dan daerah biologis kurang berharga berubah menjadi lahan produktif yang menghasilkan pendapatan ekonomi sementara memiliki efek positif pada iklim dengan menyerap karbon.
Ada cukup lahan kritis di sebagian besar Indonesia non-gambut tanah mineral untuk menukar lisensi minyak sawit saat ini tidak terpakai dari hutan lahan gambut untuk padang rumput terdegradasi. Namun, kepemilikan tanah tersebut di tanah mineral lebih tersebar daripada kepemilikan tanah gambut. Ini, antara faktor-faktor lain, menyebabkan biaya yang lebih tinggi, dan sejauh ini menghambat prakarsa politik untuk beralih lokasi untuk izin perkebunan skala besar. Oleh karena itu, perkebunan kelapa sawit saat ini ditanam pada situs yang paling rentan secara ekonomi paling menarik dan ekologis - hutan lahan gambut. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa keputusan investasi tidak hanya dibuat berdasarkan perhitungan ekonomi, tetapi bahwa faktor lain seperti aksesibilitas lahan dan kondisi politik mendorong perubahan penggunaan lahan.
Empat wawasan utama keluar dari penelitian. Pertama, REDD + merupakan instrumen untuk mempromosikan penggunaan lahan yang lebih baik. Namun, langkah-langkah lain perlu dimasukkan untuk mencapai penggunaan lahan yang optimal secara sosial. Insentif ekonomi agregat untuk beberapa layanan ekosistem, tidak hanya penyimpanan karbon, akan mengakibatkan peningkatan daya saing atas penggunaan lahan lainnya. Kedua, kerangka kelembagaan untuk pengelolaan lahan lokal yang efektif diperlukan untuk menjamin kepemilikan tanah yang jelas, pemantauan perubahan penggunaan lahan, dan penegakan peraturan. Ketiga, kepentingan stakeholder lokal perlu diperhitungkan. Dampak potensial pada kemampuan masyarakat lokal untuk menggunakan hutan melalui proyek-proyek REDD + perlu dikomunikasikan kepada mereka. Selain itu, waktu sangat penting karena orang-orang yang terkena dampak mungkin tidak dapat menurunkan penerimaan dari pemanfaatan hutan sampai mereka menerima pembayaran pertama REDD +. Keempat, perancangan dan pelaksanaan proyek-proyek REDD + perlu dilakukan sesuai dengan dinamika ekosistem lokal. Misalnya, jika suatu daerah pada kubah gambut dikeringkan agar dapat dipersiapkan untuk perkebunan kelapa sawit, tabel air tanah di hutan lahan gambut yang berdekatan akan turun juga. Hal ini menyebabkan degradasi hutan dan peningkatan emisi CO2 di luar batas perkebunan.
Pembayaran REDD + dapat menawarkan alternatif penggunaan lahan yang kompetitif yang memberikan manfaat sosial, ekologis, dan ekonomi untuk semua pemangku kepentingan dengan kontribusi untuk mitigasi perubahan iklim. Namun, ada kebutuhan untuk kerangka peraturan diadaptasi secara lokal yang memperhitungkan dinamika ekosistem yang kompleks untuk REDD + untuk memenuhi tujuan iklim. Kesadaran faktor budaya dan kelembagaan sangat penting untuk perencanaan yang efektif dan sukses proyek-proyek REDD + untuk pengelolaan ekosistem setempat sebagai insentif ekonomi. Mekanisme selain pembayaran karbon perlu dimasukkan untuk menghasilkan skenario penggunaan lahan societally optimal. Sementara hanya berbicara untuk daerah penelitian di Kalimantan, Indonesia, tulisan ini menunjukkan bahwa model ekonomi dapat melayani proses perencanaan penggunaan lahan lokal. Pemahaman ini sangat relevan bagi para pembuat kebijakan yang dapat memberikan kontribusi untuk landasan pengambilan keputusan politik pada faktor-faktor yang jelas yang menerangi dampak ekonomi, ekologi, dan sosial kebijakan penggunaan lahan.

forests or palm oil plantation?

Sustainable forest management that aims at Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) includes payments to landowners and can provide economic benefits over alternative land uses such as oil palm plantations. If certain key factors are resolved, REDD+ can simultaneously achieve economic and social success while bringing ecological benefits and contributing to climate change mitigation.

The objective of REDD+ is to provide an economic incentive to landowners to manage their land in such a way that forests remain intact and the carbon stays stored in the plants. Using the forests’ natural ability to remove carbon from the atmosphere is a relatively affordable and convenient way to contribute to climate change mitigation. Depending on local ecosystem dynamics, socio-political conditions and relevant alternative land uses, such as agriculture or oil palm plantations, REDD+ payments can be economically competitive. The benefits of REDD+ are especially visible in cases where – besides payments for carbon storage – other ecosystem services such as clean water provision and biodiversity are considered in the equation. These findings are particularly relevant for the local implementation of REDD+ projects that rely on the support of the affected people.

In a recently published article in Environmental Sustainability, researchers from Wageningen University examine the economic costs and benefits from several land use alternatives in secondary forests and oil palm plantations in Kalimantan, Indonesia over a 20-year period. The researchers quantify and compare revenues from sustainable timber harvesting, palm oil production, and non-timber forest products like rattan, a plant used for its fiber. They use data from peat land and from land on mineral soils. Peat soils have a significantly higher carbon content as compared to other soils, which makes land conversion on peat land particularly impactful for the climate. The researchers look at the amount of CO₂ that is either (a) released into the atmosphere in cases where land is converted from forest into palm oil plantations, or (b) absorbed into plant biomass through the growth of vegetation. To calculate costs for carbon emissions, an amount of five dollars per ton of released CO₂  ($/t CO₂)is used. This price is a conservative estimate given that the average carbon price in 2011 for REDD+ projects was $12/t CO₂.

The researchers find that REDD+ payments of only three dollars per ton of avoided CO₂ emissions makes sustainable forest management on peat lands financially more attractive than establishing oil palm plantations. Conversion of peat land forests through logging leads to ongoing CO₂ emissions from the exposed soil. Most oil palm plantations in Kalimantan are established in exactly these areas.  Another finding is that even on less carbon-rich mineral soils, REDD+ payments of $7/t CO₂ will incentivize landowners to keeping and maintaining the forest than compared to converting the land to oil palm plantations.

Decades of intensive logging have led to vast areas of degraded grasslands in Indonesia. The researchers find that converting these degraded grasslands into oil palm plantations can have significant benefits for society. Cultivating these areas constitutes a big opportunity to both satisfy the demand for palm oil and withdraw carbon from the atmosphere. In this scenario, no deforestation takes place and biologically less valuable areas turn into productive lands that yield economic revenues while having a positive effect on the climate by absorbing carbon.

There is enough degraded land in most of Indonesia on non-peat mineral soils to swap the currently unused palm oil licenses from peat land forests to degraded grasslands. However, ownership of such land on mineral soils is more dispersed than ownership of peat land. This, among other factors, leads to higher costs, and has so far impeded political initiatives to switch locations for large-scale plantation licenses. Therefore, oil palm plantations are currently planted on the economically least attractive and ecologically most vulnerable sites – the peat land forests. This shows that investment decisions are not solely made based on economic calculations but that other factors such as the accessibility of land and political conditions drive land use change.

Four major insights came out of the study. First, REDD+ is instrumental to promote better land use. However, other measures need to be included to reach socially optimal land use. Aggregated economic incentives for multiple ecosystem services, not only carbon storage, will lead to increased competitiveness over other land uses. Second, an institutional framework for effective local land management is necessary to ensure clear land tenure, monitoring of land use changes, and enforcement of regulations. Third, local stakeholder interests need to be taken into account. Potential impacts on the ability of local people to use the forest through REDD+ projects need to be communicated to them. Furthermore, timing is essential since the affected people may not be able to forego revenues from forest use until they receive the first REDD+ payments. Fourth, designing and implementing REDD+ projects needs to be done in accordance to local ecosystem dynamics. For instance, if an area on a peat dome is drained in order to be prepared for an oil palm plantation, the groundwater table in the adjacent peat land forest will drop as well. This leads to forest degradation and increased CO₂ emissions outside the plantation boundaries.

REDD+ payments can offer a competitive land use alternative that provides social, ecologic, and economic benefits to all stakeholders while contributing to climate change mitigation. However, there is a need for a locally adapted regulatory framework that takes into account the complex ecosystem dynamics for REDD+ to fulfill its climate objective. Awareness of cultural and institutional factors is essential for the effective and successful planning of REDD+ projects for local ecosystem management as economic incentives. Mechanisms other than carbon payments need to be included to yield the societally optimal land use scenario. While only speaking for the researched area in Kalimantan, Indonesia, this paper shows that economic models can serve local land use planning processes. This insight is particularly relevant for policymakers who can contribute to grounding political decision-making on clearly defined factors that illuminate economic, ecological, and social impacts of land use policies.

http://environment.yale.edu

REDD+ is.......

It is estimated that greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation contribute up to 20% of global emissions. This has led to interest in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation - known as REDD.
REDD+ (or REDD-plus) also includes conservation and sustainable management of forests and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks.
REDD+ has been discussed in international climate negotiations since 2005, with a focus on developing new policies and financial incentives to curb emissions from forests. Since the idea of REDD+ was first proposed, there has been a focus on a range of issues from the need to support "readiness" to allow countries to prepare for implementing REDD+ to discussing social and environmental safeguards and co-benefits.
Alongside the international climate negotiations, a number of multilateral programmes have been established to support REDD+, including the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility and the UN-REDD programme, and bilateral partnerships, such as Norway's support to Brazil's Amazon Fund.
In 2010, a number of governments signed up to the REDD+ Partnership, which aims to provide a platform to scale up actions and finance.
Alongside and with support from these various programmes and partnerships, developing countries are working to put in place policies and measures that help to curb emissions from forests, and governments and other actors are trialling different approaches through "pilot" activities for REDD+. As countries have worked to put in place REDD+ programmes, it has become increasingly evident that this can only be achieved if the drivers of deforestation are addressed - many of which are outside the forest sector.
The status of the international climate negotiations has led to a shift from REDD+ being considered as a mechanism under a future climate agreement to a much broader perception of REDD+ as an outcome that needs to be achieved through a range of interventions and approaches. With international policy processes looking towards 2015, when a future climate agreement and new global development goals are due to be agreed, how forests and REDD+ features will likely be an increasing question. These discussions could provide an important opportunity to help maintain the momentum for curbing emissions from forests and also allow for recognition of the wider roles that forests have in supporting development and environmental sustainability.
A wide range of briefings on REDD+ and how it works are available, some of which are highlighted in the featured resources below. You can also see our useful links for further information.  If you want to find out more about how REDD-net contributes to promoting pro-poor REDD+ policies, click here.