TITLE:
Stable Oxygen and Deuterium Isotope Techniques to Identify Plant Water Sources
AUTHORS:
M. Edwin, S. Lubis, I. Yani Harahap, Taufiq C. Hidayat, Y. Pangaribuan, Edy S. Sutarta, Zaharah A. Rahman, Christopher Teh, M. M. Hanafi
KEYWORDS:
Deuterium Isotope Technique, Plant Water Sources, Stable Oxygen
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Water Resource and Protection,
Vol.6 No.15,
November
27,
2014
ABSTRACT: There is still very little information on the sources of water absorbed
by oil palm plant. This information is very important for water management
system in oil palm plantation. Thus, this study was carried out to determine
current water sources absorbed by the oil palm roots using oxygen (δ18O)
and deuterium isotopes (δD) techniques. Sketches of oxygen and deuterium
isotope were total rainfall, throughfall, runoff, measurement at 5 soil depths
(namely: 20 cm, 50 cm, 100 cm, 150 cm, and 200 cm), and oil palm stem. Results
of this study showed huge variance in the values of oxygen and deuterium
isotope. Based on Least Significant Difference (LSD) test, there was no
significant value in the oxygen and deuterium isotope of stem water and others;
however, a similar value was obtained at the depths of 0 - 20 cm and 20 - 50 cm
with the stem water. This indicated that oil palm absorbed water from 0 - 50 cm
depth. This result agreed with the oil palm rooting system, which has verified
that the root quarter is the most active root of oil palm.