The Study of Inceptisol Soil Quality in Sugarcane Planting Land (Saccharum Officinarum L.) at PTPN II Sei Semayang Plantation

Abstract

Perkebunan Nusantara II is the only Large State Plantation in North Sumatra that cultivates sugar cane in Deli Serdang Regency, especially in Sunggal, Kutalimbaru, and East Binjai Subdistricts which are located at an altitude of ±40 m above sea level with flat topography and dominated by Inceptisol soil which makes this district suitable for planting plantation crops. In recent years, the sugar industry in Indonesia, especially in North Sumatra, has experienced a decline in productivity due to unattainable technical cultivation factors, including land management, soil quality (soil health), and poor soil fertility. This study aims to assess the soil quality criteria on sugarcane plantations cultivated by PTPN II. This research is descriptive exploratory, with a field survey approach and supported by soil analysis in the laboratory. The method used in this study is a grid-free survey method with sampling in this study using a simple random sampling technique, by combining composite sampling. Soil samples were taken at 8 points with a depth of 0-20 cm. Soil sample analysis was carried out, namely soil texture, density, porosity, cation exchange capacity, organic C, pH, N-total, P-available, Base saturation, and Total microbial. Then proceed to describe the results of the study by conducting an assessment of soil quality using the 10 Minimum Data Set (MDS) method according to Lal, 1994 on each indicator. The results showed that the soil in PTPN II Sei Semayang had soil quality with moderate to poor criteria with a value range of 29 – 33