Field Notes
Calopogonium caeruleum: the shade-tolerant cove...
Calopogonium caeruleum displays higher overall shade tolerance than 14 other tropical legumes tested in Malaysia. As oil palm canopy closes and shade-intolerant species thin, CC maintains persistent ground cover that...
Pueraria javanica vs Mucuna bracteata: choosing...
Mucuna bracteata and Pueraria javanica are the two most widely used leguminous cover crops in Malaysian oil palm. They have different establishment rates, nitrogen fixation capacity, drought tolerance, and shade...
Establishing cover crops in immature oil palm: ...
The first three years after replanting are the most critical window for establishing the ground cover system that will protect the soil and fix nitrogen for the new stand's entire...
Mucuna bracteata vs herbicide: the cost and eff...
Research shows Mucuna bracteata suppresses weeds by 97 to 99% in Malaysian oil palm: comparable to herbicide programmes at a fraction of the long-term cost. This article quantifies the cost-benefit...
Soil erosion on sloping oil palm land in Malays...
Bare soil in oil palm plantations on sloping land loses up to 5.26 tonnes of topsoil per hectare per year to erosion. Ground cover reduces this by 67%. In a...
Oil palm trunk recycling at replanting: why zer...
At replanting, a 25-year-old oil palm stand generates enormous quantities of trunk and frond biomass. Zero-burn practices: chipping and field-returning trunks rather than burning them: preserve substantial organic matter and...