Hydro-physical properties of agriculturally used peatlands in Liang Anggang Protected Forest, South Kalimantan, Indonesia

The utilization of peatlands as agricultural areas that do not pay attention to proper water management will result in peatland degradation. To restore the degraded peatlands, it is necessary to explore the peat’s hydrological and physical characteristics. Therefore this study investigates the hydro-physical peat characteristics in the peatlands that have been converted into agricultural use. The research was carried out in the Liang Anggang Protected Forest area, specifically in the area converted to agricultural land. Undisturbed peat samples were collected in both intensive and un-intensive agricultural sites. Peat characteristics were analysed in the laboratory include bulk density, particle density, porosity, total soil water content, and hydraulic conductivity variables. The result shows that peat characteristics in the intensive agricultural land significantly indicate higher bulk density and particle density with the values 0.30 g/cm3 and 0.91 g/cm3, respectively. Still, significantly lower values are found in porosity (66.87%), total soil water content (226.95%), and hydraulic conductivity (0.0025 cm/s). Degraded peatland restoration that functions as a protected forest must be carried out through rewetting activities and maintaining the water table depth. On the other side, the peatland whose function is designated as an agricultural area, wetland farming systems should be applied using adaptive crop species.