A paired-watershed experiment, comprising three small catchments in Sungai Tekam, Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia, was carried out from 1977 to 1986 to determine and quantify the effect on water yield of a typical forest land conversion to agricultural land use. Two catchments, A and B, were treated after 5 and 3 yr of calibration and subsequently planted with cocoa and oil palm, respectively. Significant increases in water yield were observed in both catchments. The highest increase occurred in the second and fourth year after treatment, amounting to 706 mm (157%) and 822 mm (470%) in catchments A and B, respectively. Different magnitudes of annual yield increases apparently reflected the various activities of land conversion including timber harvesting, underbrushing, clear felling, burning, road construction and planting of cover crops/shade trees. Management implications of these yield increases are discussed.
Keyword(s)
agricultural land, coconuts, Cover crops, Deforestation, Forest influences, forests, Hydrology, land use, oil palms, Runoff, Shade trees, trees, Watersheds, woody plants, Malaysia, Peninsular Malaysia, Cocos nucifera, Elaeis, Elaeis guineensis, plants, Cocos, Arecaceae, Arecales, monocotyledons, angiosperms, Spermatophyta, eukaryotes, APEC countries, ASEAN Countries, Commonwealth of Nations, Developing Countries, South East Asia, Asia, Threshold Countries, catchment areas, farmland, West Malaysia, Forests and Forest Trees (Biology and Ecology) (KK100), Pollution and Degradation (PP600), Aquatic Sciences (General) (MM000), Water Resources (PP200), Protection Forestry (KK140) (Discontinued March 2000), Freshwater and Brackish Water (PP210) (Discontinued March 2000), Land Resources (PP300), Plant Cropping Systems (FF150), Plant Production (FF100), Other Land Use (KK150) (Discontinued March 2000), Agroforestry and Multipurpose Trees, Community, Farm and Social Forestry (KK600)
