Soil excursion to Southern Leyte, Philippines with Prof. R Jahn
On 09 April 2010, we organized a soil excursion to Southern Leyte for selected graduate students pursuing MSc degree in Soil Science at the Department of Agronomy and Soil Science of Visayas State University in Baybay, Leyte. The main objective of the activity was to observe the important soils of the province. Prof. Dr. Reinhold Jahn of Martin Luther University (Germany), former Chairman of the Soil Geography Commission of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS), served as the resource person. The participants included Grace Enojada, Marilou Sarong, Katrina Piamonte, Deejay Maranguit, Glenn Largo, and Raffy Rodrigo. The group first focused on the young soils in the alluvial plains which are generally used for lowland rice production. Prof. Jahn discussed the important features of paddy (rice) soils particularly gleying, mottling, and the occurrence of plow pan. During his recent field work in the Banaue rice terraces in northern Luzon, Prof. Jahn noted that plow pan is general...