Soil properties across land mapping units under upland rice shifting cultivation in West Papua, Indonesia

Abstract

Shifting cultivation remains widely practiced across tropical regions and has been implicated in soil degradation processes and broader environmental change.This research examines and analyzes the main soil properties of upland rice at harvest in shifting cultivation locations.Soil samples were collected from nine land mapping units (LMUs) representing shifting cultivation systems of upland rice in the harvest phase.The analyzed soil properties included texture, pH, soil organic carbon (C-organic), total nitrogen (N), available phosphorus (P), exchangeable cations (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, and K⁺), cation exchange capacity (CEC), and base saturation (BS).Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, boxplot visualization, and the Kruskal-Wallis test.The results indicate that soils at the study site are generally acidic, with low to moderate levels of soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, exchangeable base cations, and cation exchange capacity, while base saturation is very low to low.Soil texture ranged from sandy to clayey, which influenced nutrient retention capacity and cation exchange characteristics.Boxplot analysis revealed substantial variability within LMUs, reflecting fine-scale spatial heterogeneity.However, the Kruskal-Wallis test indicated that most soil properties did not differ significantly among LMUs (p>0.05),suggesting relatively homogeneous soil conditions at the landscape scale.Therefore, sustainable land management in shifting cultivation systems needs to integrate a conservation approach at the landscape scale with site-specific management to maintain soil fertility and the sustainability of land ecological functions.

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