Assessment of the Susceptibility of Tropical Black Soil Formed in Various Parent Materials to Degradation under Different Land Uses

Sustainable use of black soil is the best option to preserve this soil, leading to climate change mitigation and promoting carbon sequestration. Intensive farming on black soils triggers soil structure degradation, soil acidification, and soil nutrition imbalance. Soil susceptibility to soil structure degradation, the ratio of water-extracted pH and KCl-extracted pH, and ratios of soil nutrients could be proposed to asses black soil threats. This study aimed to assess soil susceptibility to soil structure degradation (SSI) and acidification (PHR) and stoichiometry of soil CNPK under different land use types based on Indonesia’s legacy tropical black soil data. We collated 129 datasets, calculated susceptibility indicators, and soil nutrient ratio, and then performed soil statistical analysis. Results show that SSI in the forest is 5.7% and PHR 1.18. Land use type significantly affects the variation of SSI, where paddy fields and monoculture gardens are significantly different from natural black soils. The susceptibility of soil acidification (PHR) is not significantly different with various land use and soil properties. Climate-smart agriculture and agroecology should be promoted in black soil utilization to prevent soil structure degradation and acidification while maintaining soil nutrient balance.