Soil fertility status at Kuningan Botanical Garden, Kuningan Regency, West Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract Kuningan Botanical Garden (KBG) is an ex-situ conservation area adjacent to the Mount Ciremai National Park. Soil characteristics are an essential information, especially to determine zonation at KBG. This research was conducted to describe soil fertility status at KBG through physical and chemical properties of soil (Cation Exchange Capacity/CEC, Base Saturation/BS, Soil Organic Carbon/C-Organic, Total Soil Phosphorus (total-P), and Total Soil Potassium (total-K)). Soil from eight locations were sampled by using a diagonal systematic and a purposive sampling method. Soil samples (9 sub sample points at each location) were mixed, then analyzed at Integrated Testing Laboratory in Vegetable Research Center (BALITSA) Lembang, Indonesia. Land in this research area is dominated by volcanic rocks with various levels of slope and soil fertility. Soil type divided into Andosol and Podzolic soils with soil textures dominated by clay and clay loam. CEC value at KBG is categorized as low to moderate (10.83 – 19.21 cmol/kg); BS value is categorized as low to very high (21 – 81 %); C-Organic is categorized as low to very high (1.33 – 7.05 %); total-P is categorized as high to very high (46.54 – 73.6 mg/100g); and total-K is categorized as low to high (7.25 – 44.67 mg/100g). The result also showed that Total Soil Nitrogen (total-N) at KBG is categorized as low to very high (0.15 – 0.78 %) and soil pH levels around 5.2 to 6.3. Therefore, the soil fertility status at the Kuningan Botanical Garden can be categorized into low and medium soil fertility.