Kajian Kualitas Tanah pada Lahan Pertanaman Kopi Arabika (Coffea arabica L.) di Siosar, Kecamatan Merek, Kabupaten Karo

Abstract

Soil quality is important to assess the sustainability of reliable land management for the future, which can be used as a tool to assess the effect of land management. This study aims to assess soil quality in arabica coffee (Coffea arabica L.) plantations in Siosar, Merek District, Karo Regency. This research was conducted at the Soil Physics and Classification Laboratory and the Soil Biology Laboratory of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of North Sumatra, and PT Socfin Indonesia (SOCFINDO) in April 2023 - June 2023. This research is descriptive exploratory, with a field survey approach, and supported by soil analysis in the laboratory. Sampling was carried out based on the making of a map of land unit units from the overlay results, and soil sampling using Purposive Sampling technique with the distinguishing factor of coffee plant age. Soil samples were taken at 9 points with a depth of 0-20 cm. The analysis of soil samples carried out is soil texture, content density, porosity, cation exchange capacity, C-organic, pH, N-total, P-available, base saturation, and total microbes. Then proceed to describe the results of the study by assessing soil quality with the Minimum Data Set (MDS) method according to Lal, (1994) on each indicator. The results showed that the soil quality index on Arabica coffee plantations in Siosar, Merek District, Karo Regency has good soil quality at the location of Arabica coffee plantations aged 0-2 years, 3-4 years and 5-6 years with extreme limiting factors on soil chemical properties, namely pH and base saturation.