Report on the 14th PSSST Scientific Conference held at VSU, Baybay, Leyte

The 14th Annual Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Philippine Society of Soil Science and Technology (PSSST) was held at the Visayas State University (VSU) in Baybay City, Leyte last 25-27 May 2011. About 140 soil scientists, soil practitioners, and agriculturists working in universities, government agencies, non-government organizations, and private companies throughout the country attended the conference.

The opening program was graced by Dr. Florentino Tesoro who represented Congressman Angelo B. Palmones (AGHAM Partylist), Dr. Jose L. Bacusmo (VSU President), Prof. K. Stahr (Germany), Mr. Deogracias Pernites (representing Mayor Carmen Cari of Baybay City), Dr. Cezar Mamaril (PSSST Adviser), Dr. Eduardo Paningbatan (PSSST Adviser), Ms. Constancia Mangao (PSSST President) and Dr. Victor B. Asio (Dean of the College of Agriculture, VSU).

Prof. Dr. Karl Stahr, the Chairman of Division I of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS), gave the keynote lecture about the limestone soils in Southeast Asia particularly Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. Dr. Gamini Keerthisinghe of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) gave a plenary paper on challenges to sustainable crop production.

A total of 26 oral papers were presented dealing with various soil topics ranging from fertilization to soil characterization and geospatial modeling. In addition, 25 poster papers were presented. The presenters of the best oral and poster papers were awarded with certificates and cash.

In the afternoon of the last day of the conference, a post-conference tour was organized and sponsored by the Department of Agronomy and Soil Science of VSU to Lake Danao located at 630 m ASL in the central highlands of Leyte. On the way to the lake, the participants were able to see the following: 1) the City of Ormoc; 2) the mouth and headwater of Anilao River which caused the tragic flooding of Ormoc City in 1991 killing 8,000 people; 3) the volcanic landscape which was traditionally used for large-scale sugarcane production; 4) the 1,912 ha Lake Danao along the Philippine Fault Line; 5) an Andisol soil profile (Typic Hapludand); and 6) the Tongonan Geothermal Plant, one of the largest in Asia.

Overall, the conference was a great success. The attendance of Prof. Stahr from the University of Hohenheim in Germany and Dr. Keerthisinghe from ACIAR in Australia gave the conference an international standing especially since Prof. Stahr represented the IUSS of which PSSST is a member.

The Department of Agronomy and Soil Science of VSU which co-hosted the conference, is grateful to the VSU president for the encouragement and support, and the officers and advisers particularly Dr. Cezar Mamaril of PSSST for bringing the conference to VSU.

A report on this conference has been published in the IUSS Bulletin Vol. 119 (Dec 2011 issue)

(All photos were taken by Glenn Largo)

Soil Science is also called pedology

In American soil science, pedology (pedo is Greek for ground or soil) has recently been made as a subdiscipline that deals with soil morphology, genesis and classification. In other parts of the world, however, particularly in non-English speaking countries in Europe, Asia and Africa soil science has remained synonymous to pedology (Bech, 2006). Historically, pedology was the original term for the scientific study of the soil introduced by Fallou and it was only in 1924 during the planning for the first international congress that the term soil science was introduced as a synonym. This was in fact reflected in the paper that Glinka presented during the congress (Glinka, 1927).

Until today many textbooks, scientific journals and academic departments dealing with soil science in non-English speaking countries bear the name pedology. In 2002, there was an internet debate among some members of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) about the term pedology. While many North Americans who joined the debate strongly argued for the use of pedology as a branch of soil science, most soil scientists from Europe (e.g. the world-reknown R. Dudal from Belgium) and other parts of the world maintained that pedology is synonymous to soil science and is not a subdiscipline. Because of the disagreement, pedology was not used as a subdiscipline in the IUSS,

The traditional branches of soil science include soil chemistry, soil biology and biochemistry, soil physics, soil mineralogy, soil genesis, survey and classification, soil conservation, and soil fertility. Many soil scientists at present are experts of new emerging fields of soil science like hydropedology (interaction between hydrosphere and pedosphere), landscape pedology (role of soil in landscape processes), ecopedology (role of soil in terrestrial ecosystems), soil biogeochemistry (how biological and geochemical processes in soils affect element cycle), pedometrics (use of mathematical and statistical tools to interpret and analyze soil data), soil geography (local, regional and global distribution of soils), soil protection, and soil science history.

References
Bech, J. 2006. Eupedology: a solution to a controversy. IUSS Bulletin 109: 27-30.
Glinka, K.D. 1927. Dokuchaiev’s ideas in the development of pedology and cognate sciences. Trans. First Intern Congr. Soil Sci., Wisconsin, vol. 1, pp: 116-135