Effects of Converting Secondary Forest to Oil Palm Plantation on Peat Soil Carbon and Nitrogen and Other Soil Chemical Properties (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Peat is defined as the accumulation of purely one hundred percent organic matter and the distinction between soil and vegetative accumulation is not clear (1). The soil division of Sarawak, Malaysia adopted a more recent definition which is based on soil partition, i.e. soils that have 50 cm or more Soil Organic Matter (SOM) within 100 cm or more than twice that of mineral soil materials overlying bedrock within 50 cm (2). Peat soils form generally in large basin swamps which are dome-shaped. Organic soil deposits occupying the central portion of the dome, generally known as 'ombrogenous peat', comprises mainly of disaggregated tree trunks, branches, leaves, roots and fruits.