IMPACT OF CEASED MANURING ON OIL PALM YIELD

Abstract

Malaysian palm oil production contributes significantly to the local economy as well as providing many job opportunities. Yield records of crude palm oil (CPO) over the last 7 years (2012-2018) hovered at less than 20 million tonnes per year. The main reason resulting in such dismal performances was due to the inability of plantations to achieve their expected yields. This was mainly due to:(i) inadequacy of harvesters;(ii) climatic influence particularly during significantly lower rainfall periods i.e. El Nino in 2015/16 and;(iii) fertiliser input strategies during low CPO prices. Past experiments revealed that the cessation of fertilisers can result in yields dropping over 40 per cent which translates to about 14.5 tonnes per hectare per year. In another fertiliser experiment of 15 years, high yields of over 30 tonnes per hectare per year is not sustainable without proper fertiliser inputs. Therefore, impact of fertiliser cessation in relation to palm age and inherent soil fertility on oil palm yields will be discussed in this paper. Keywords: Cease manuring, yield, oil palm.