Effect of Oil Palm on Soil Properties in Selected Areas of Sri Lanka

Soil quality is an important factor for a country like Sri Lanka where agriculture is still the main livelihood of most of the people in the country. Therefore soil degradation can directly affect the country’s economy due to low productivity from degraded lands. Although the oil palm cultivation is being expanded within the country any environmental impact assessment has not been done to identify the potential threats of the cultivation to the environment. This study assesses the impact of the oil palm cultivation on soil degradation based on selected physical chemical and biological soil quality parameters.