Oil Palm Soil Variability in West Malaysia as Affected by Its Parent Materials

The research aimed to analyze soil variability induced by parent materials for oil palm in West Malaysia. The research results can provide basic information on potential reserves of nutrients to improve soil productivity for oil palm. Soil samples were collected from two locations （granite soils and basalt soils）. The collected soil samples were completely analyzed in laboratory. The research results showed that based on mineral resistance to weathering （sand and silt mineral sizes）, mineral weathering of granite and basalt is divided into three categories, i.e., very slow weathered mineral （quartz and muscovite）, slowly weathered mineral （K-feldspar, Na and Ca-feldspar and biotite）, and easily weathered mineral （hornblende, augit, olivine, dolomite, calcite and gypsum） Losing mineral during weathering process from granite to clay is determined by containing mineral in rocks. Such minerals （CaO, Na：O, KzO, MgO and SiO2） loosed 100%, 95.0%, 83.5%, 74.7% and 52.5%, respectively, but Fe203 is disappeared only 14