Soil physical and chemical properties in compartment 5 of Gunung Siku Forest Reserve

This study concentrates on soil conditions at Compartment 5 of Gunung Siku Forest Reserve in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia after reforestation due to illegal opening of crop cultivation for past few years. As an effort of reforestation treatment at that area, four species were planted on 2015 which are Nageia wallachiana, Agathis borneensis, Shorea platyclados and Gymnostoma sumathranum. The objective of this study is to compare the soil physical properties such as soil pH, soil moisture content, soil texture and soil colour as well as the soil chemical properties such as soil organic matter and concentration of metal elements of the upper slope (1460m) and the lower slope (1413m) located at Compartment 5 of Gunung Siku Forest Reserve. The result obtained shows that the pH value at the study area is classified as moderately acidic to neutral with a range between pH 5.0 to pH 7.2 and the locations is statistically proven to affect the soil pH value due to downslopes movement of HCO3−. The soil moisture content varies between 1% (extremely dry) to 8% (extremely moist) due to change in humidity and density of vegetation covers at each slopes. Meanwhile, the soil texture are moderately coarse and generalized as sandy clay loam with a strong brown colour. In a period of eight month from February to October, the soil organic matter at the study area increases from 3.52% to 4.49% for the upper slope while the lower slope decline from 4.96% to 3.77% due to difference in climate and soil pH. Two macronutrients which are Mg with a total concentration of 3.97 mg/kg (February) and 4.60 mg/kg (October) whereas K with 29.44 mg/kg (February) and 28.74 mg/kg (October) provide efficient essential nutrients for plant growth successfully. Another three heavy metal elements were identified which are Pb (February - 0.55 mg/kg and October - 0.61 mg/kg) as well as Zn and Cu that decreases in level of concentrations from 0.65 mg/kg to 0.26 mg/kg and from 0.47 mg/kg to 0.26 mg/kg in a period of eight respectively. In overall, the results clearly shows that the soil at Compartment 5 of Gunung Siku Forest Reserve is fertile and suitable to aids in plant growth. Other than that, data obtained in this study can acts as a baseline data for any future researches related to soil physical and chemical properties at Compartment 5 of Gunung Siku Forest Reserve.