Evaluation of environmental impact of the raised-bed-dike (Rong Chin) system along the Tha Chin river in Suphan Buri-Nakhon Pathom Provinces, Thailand

Abstract

Vegetable cultivation on an embankment surrounded by water (raised-bed-dike system, Thai name rong chin) along the Tha Chin (Suphan Buri) river in the Suphan Buri and Nakhon Pathom Provinces was surveyed. The system was introduced by Chinese immigrants to produce vegetables in the river delta. The rong chin system in this area produced mainly Chinese kale, chili, bitter gourd, yard-long bean, taro, and sweet potato, while fruit trees and flowers were seldom cultivated, because of the flooding of the river in the rainy season. The amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus applied into field soils as fertilizers were far higher than those recovered in the harvested vegetables, indicating that only a limited portion of the nutrients was taken up by the crops and that part of the nutrients remained in the soils and in the dike water. Periodical flooding promoted leaching of the accumulated nutrients in the fields. Analyses of the soils and river waters revealed that phosphorus had started to accumulate in the environment, whereas only a small amount of nitrogen was detected in the river, canal, and dike waters, presumably because of the active uptake of nitrogen by biomass and denitrification.

Key Words:

• delta agriculture
• nitrate pollution
• phosphorus accumulation
• raised-bed-dike cultivation
• Thailand