Comparing the Fertility of Soils Under Khaya Ivorensis Plantation and Regenerated Degraded Secondary Forests (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Globally, most of tropical forest in the world decline due to deforestation (Montagnini et al., 1997; FAO, (2005). The decrease reaches a rate of 16.9 million hectares annually. In Malaysia, the decrease in forest area is caused by deforestation reaching 1,486,000 hectares annually between 1990 and 2005; this indicates that Malaysian forest cover had lost about 6.64% (FAO, 2005). Deforestation leads to decline in soil fertility, which is indicated by a decrease in soil organic matter due to an imbalance between the input and output of carbon and other nutrients that originate from vegetations. Moreover, most of soils in the tropical forest are infertile (Jordan, 1989), while deforestation can disturb nutrient cycling process, so that nutrient can be rapidly lost.