Determination of Deposition and Leaves in Teak Plantations in Thailand

This paper outlines the results to date of the continuing acidic deposition study from 1997 in three teak plantations at the Na Pralan, Klangdong, and Donglan villages of Thailand. The aim of this study was to examine the impact on teak plantations of acid deposition — the increasing flow of chemical compounds including CO₂, SO₂, NO₂, and NO_x into the atmosphere. The 1997–1999 results showed no symptoms of acidity of the precipitation in the teak plantations at the treated sites (Na Pralan and Klangdong). During this period, the pHs of stemflow and throughfall were still over 7; and the pHs of the rainfall were around 7, except at Klandong where it dropped to around 5 in 1999. The pH and EC values were higher at the polluted sites than at the control site; this may be attributed to contamination with lime dust from nearby industrial plants, including cement factories and quarrying mills. Fresh leaves were contaminated with Sulphur to quite high levels at the Na Pralan site. This contamination seems to have affected the physiology, biomass and chemical content of the leaves. It might be due to pollution gases (SO₂ and NO_x) from the heavy trucks on the nearby Phaholyothin road. However, these gases could not be detected by a gas detector even though pollution seemed quite heavy. This study did not detect acid rain damage to the teak plantations.