Assessment of soil quality in organic and non-organic paddy fields with technical irrigation system in Susukan

Abstract

Soil quality is a measure of the condition of soil. The goal of sustainable agriculture is to maintain a non-negative trend in productivity while maintaining soil quality. Susukan is an area in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia, which has developed organic farming to increase rice productivity and quality. The main objective was to determine the sustainability of organic rice cropping systems. The organic farming system at the research location has been conducted for 8 years. Appropriate agricultural management can maintain the quality of soil, environment and improve the health of plants, animals and humans. This research aims to know the soil quality and determine the minimum data set (MDS) in organic and non-organic paddy field with a technical irrigation system. Paddy soil samples were analyzed in the laboratory. The parameters are porosity, permeability, hydrogen potential (pH), cation exchange capacity (CEC), soil organic matter (SOC), total-N (nitrogen), carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio, available-P (phosphorus), available-K (potassium), base saturation (BS), electric conductivity (EC), soil respiration (qCO2), redox potential (Eh) with 3 repetitions. The value of soil quality index (SQI) in the organic paddy field is 3.216 with bad soil quality criteria, while the non-organic paddy field is 0.147 with very bad criteria. The soil quality values are based on the key factors or MDS that is potential redox (EH), soil respiration (qCO2), potential hydrogen (pH), porosity, soil organic matter (SOC), total-N (nitrogen), C/N ratio, available-P (phosphorus).