Soil degradation and herbicide pollution by repeated cassava monoculture within Thailand's conservation region.

ABSTRACT: In a national park in Northeast Thailand, agricultural land has been converted from natural forest by small-scale farmers for cassava agriculture. We hypothesise that long-termed cassava monoculture leads to the degradation of soil properties. To test the hypothesis, we conducted a five-year (2016-2020) study on the physical and chemical properties of soil in cassava farmland, and also examined the soil properties of its adjacent natural forests, as a control. The examined cassava farmland was converted from the natural forest during the five years from 2011 to 2015. The significant decrease in organic carbon and the increases in exchangeable potassium and bulk density were found in 2016, indicating that these soil properties varied quickly following the farmland conversion. On the other h

SUBMITTER: Popradit A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11302848 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature