Page 39 - Enzymes in Tropical Soils

Enzymes in Tropical Soils 27

wastes are to be safely disposed. Several places are finally used as disposal sites.
However, most of the time in many cases the accumulated organic matters or
organic wastes cause some social, health, and environmental problems.

Table 3.1. Organic wastes of rice plants in Jakarta and
West Java, Indonesia*.
Jakarta Bogor Purwakarta
Year -1
Mg day
1996 3.90 93.38 37.31
1997 3.41 93.73 33.91
1998 3.97 95.60 38.29

1999 3.75 93.64 37.30
2000 4.05 92.10 37.92
2001 3.91 92.04 49.68
2002 2.53 99.34 41.68
2003 1.88 81.44 34.88
*After Bintoro (2008)

Some alternatives may be taken to make use of these materials. For
example, using these materials for paper production and animal feeds. However,
most of the organic residues in many cases become serious problems in the
environment. However, as suggested by Fig 1.1 and Fig. 3.1, organic matters and
organic wastes are actually potential as nutrient sources in the soil system. These
materials contain various nutrients originally absorbed by plant roots and
accumulated in the structure of plant, animal, and human tissues. When these
materials are returned into the soil system, through decay or decomposition
processes they may give various nutrients needed by plants and eventually by
animals and humans. For example, Bintoro (2008) reported that some plant
residues contain relatively high amounts of N, P, and K (Table 3.4).

Abdul Kadir Salam - 2014