The Soil Color as Indicator for Fruit Garden Soil Assessment and Recommendation

Abstract

The soil organic carbon (C) content played an important factor in soil fertility for crop yield, but in wider regions, the estimation in the fields require costly to analyze. The study objectives were to use soil color as an indicator for assessment and correlation with the soil organic C content as the soil degradation indicator from 82 soil samples of the study area in Hau Giang province, Vietnam. The results showed that when the soil has the same humidity, the soil has a different Value and Chroma but the same Munsell Hue color. The organic C content is ranging from 1,32 to 5.6%. There was the negative significant correlation between Munsell soil color properties and organic C content, as Value (r = -0.75^** air-dry, r = -0.74^** moist); Chroma (r= -0.55^** air-dry, r = -0.66^** moist). Especially for topsoil layers, soil color is a useful predictor of organic C content.

This study indicates that the Munsell soil colors can predict the fruit garden soil organic C in moist conditions. However, more analysis on the other soils with different soil properties for a further recommendation.