This document discusses a study on the effects of construction brick debris on soil and the growth of Leucaena leucocephala. It provides background on L. leucocephala and outlines the objectives, methodology, and expected results of an experiment investigating the growth of L. leucocephala in different ratios of soil mixed with crushed brick debris. The experiment will examine plant growth parameters over 6 months in 4 soil mix ratios to determine the appropriate ratio for growth. Soil analysis will also be conducted before and after mixing to study changes in nutrients. The study aims to evaluate using construction waste to support agriculture.

1. Effects of construction bricks debris
on soil and growth development of
Leucaena leucecophala.
Mohamad Izham Bin Mohd Alias
GS34806
Supervisory committee
Assoc Prof Dr Ahmad Husni Mohd. Hanif
Dr Izham Ahmad

2. Outline
INTRODUCTION
PROBLEM STATEMENT
JUSTIFICATION
GENERAL OBJECTIVES
LITERATURE REVIEW
EXPERIMENT
DATA ANALYSIS
REFERENCES

3. Introduction
Leucaena taxonomy
 A leguminous shrub plant
 Originated from Mexico
 Spread across the world
 Most of it parts are usable
 Leaves – feed
 Fruit – coffee
 Wood – fire
 Vigorous growth

4. Problem statement
 According to the current practice, most of the
construction waste is buried in landfills, especially
around rivers and roads.
 This not only creates unpleasant views around cities
but also causes underground water pollution and
occasional destructive floods.
 There is need to use of construction waste for
agriculture.

5. Justifications
1. To do soil analysis on soil mix with cement bricks
debris, before and after mixing.
2. To isolate and characterize the suitable cement
bricks debris ratio mix with soil use for L.
leucocephala.
3. To see the effect of soil mix with cement bricks
debris on the growth of L. leucocephala.

6. Literature review
 Plant taxonomy and botany
 Uses of L. leucocephala
 Urban soils
 Construction debris

7. Taxonomy
Genus Leucaena
Species Leucocephala
Botanical name Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit

8. Botany
 Shrubs, but can grow up to 20m
 10-25 cm trunk diameter
 Alternating bipinnate leaves
 Flowers and fruits are formed nearly throughout the
years
 The plant develop a long, strong taproot.

9.  Leucaena grown for:
1. Fodder
2. Land reclamation
3. Erosion control
4. Water conservation
5. Reforestation
6. Soil sonservation
(Duke, 1983)

10.  Its leaves use for mulching. It said can increase the
yield of the crop.
 Can be at any soils but best at alkaline clay soil.
 Does not tolerate with low calcium and/or high in
aluminium and manganese.
 Slow growth with pH < 5
(Duke, 1983)

11. Urban soil
 During the course of urban development, activities
such as land clearing, cutting, and filling drastically
alter the natural soil habitat.
 Construction of residential sites often begins by
removing all the native vegetation as well as the
topsoil material.
 The construction activities dramatically change the
soil properties resulting in an “urban soil”.
 Also classified as Technosols (Morel et al., 2005)

12. Urban soils
 A soil material having a nonagricultural, manmade
surface layer more than 50 centimeters (20 inches)
thick that has been produced by mixing, filling, or by
contamination of land surface in urban and suburban
areas (Maechling et al., 1974).

13. Urban soils problem
According to Brown et al. (2000) there are several problems in urban
soil:
Physical:
 1. Compaction
 2. Poor soil structure
 3. High clay content
 4. Surface crusting
 5. High soil temperature
Chemical:
 1. Low soil organic matters
 2. Variability in nutrient contents
 3. Low soil fertility
 4. High pH
Biological:
 1. Few or no biological activity
 2. Few soil microorganism

14. Urban soil
 Fill materials in urban soils:
 Natural soil materials that have been moved around by
humans
 Construction debris
 Materials dredged from waterways
 Coal ash
 Municipal solid waste
 A combination of any or all of the above

15. Construction debris
 Construction and demolition (C&D) debris is
generated from the construction, renovation, or
demolition of a structure
 Construction debris is the most widespread type to
find in urban soils (Bullock and Gregory 1991)
 Among the debris, bricks are the oldest of the
weathering-stable components.

16. Bricks
 Bricks act as a valuable marker for the urbanization
impacts in soils world-wide and for soil classification
(Rossiter 2007).
 Plant roots can enter bricks pore and absorb the
water and nutrients in the bricks. (Neilhs et al., 2012)

17. Experiment
 Seedling growth of L. leucocephala in cement bricks
debris soil mix.
 Growth performance of L. leucocephala in cement
bricks debris soil mix.

18. Special objectives
1. To investigate the appropriate ratio of cement
bricks debris on growth of L. leucocephala
2. To evaluate the seedlings growth of L.
leucocephala
3. To study the changes of soil nutrients before
and after the mix with cement bricks debris

19. Planting materials
 Seeds are from nearby wild L. leucocephala around
UPM.
 Then the seeds will be planted directly into the
polybags contain different soil mix ratio.
 The care and maintenance will be done like
watering, fertilizing and removal of weeds, regularly.

20. Planting materials
 Soils – Munchong series
 Then it will be sieve to obtain uniform soil size (<
3mm)

21. Planting materials
 Cement bricks debris
 Obtain around Bandar Baru Bangi
 Crushed manually using hammer
 Sieve (1-2cm) to obtain uniform debris size.

22. Location
 Located in Field 10, UPM.
 Open place

23. Treatments
Treatments Debris:Soil ratio
T1 0:1
T2 1:1
T3 2:1
T4 3:1
Polybag size: 25 x 15 cm

24. Experimental design
 4 x 1 factorial design
 Treatments: 1 control + 4 soil mixes ratio
 Replications: 4
 Arrangement:
 Complete Randomized Design (CRD)
 The experiment will be conducted for 6 months
 Total experiments unit:
4 T x 4 R x 2 = 50 polybags

25. Data collections
 Plant growth (monthly)
 shoot and root length
 vigor index
 collar diameter
 leaf number
 plant height
Plant growth
(3 month & 6 month)
 Total biomass
increment
 Fresh and dry weight
of shoot and root

26. Data Collections
 Soil chemical analysis
 pH
 CEC
 EC
 Cement bricks debris
 pH
 Nutrient contents

27. Expected result
 L. leucocephala seedlings are able to survive in the
soil mix.
 Different ratio of soil mixes will affect the growth of L.
leucocephala.
 Nutrient content before and after soil mix has
significant differences.

28. Data analysis
 ANOVA – SAS 9.1
 Different among means which separated using
Tukey at p < 0.05
 Regression analysis

29. Gantt chart
2013 2014
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Proposal
preparation and
Presentation
Experiment
Preliminary
study (develop
methods for
using GC-MS)
Analysis (Lab
work)
Analyzing data
Thesis writing
VIVA and
Submission

30. References
 Bullock P, Gregory PJ (1991) Soils in the urban environment. Black-
well, London, 174 p
 Brown, R.B., J.H. Huddleston, and J.L. Anderson. (2000) Managing
Soils in an Urban Environment. American Society of Agronomy,
Madison, WI.
 Duke, J.A. 1983. Nitrogen fixing trees. p. 48-51. In: The international
permaculture seed yearbook. 1983. Orange, MA.
 Maechling, P., Cooke, H. and Bockheim, J.G. (1974) Nature and
properties of highly disturbed urban soils. p. 151. In Agronomy
abstracts. ASA, CSSA, SSSA, Madison, WI.
 Morel J, Schwartz C, Florentin L, de Kimpe C (2005) Urban soils. In:
Hillel D (ed) Encyclopedia of soils in the environment. Elsevier,
Oxford, pp 202–208
 Nehls, T., Rokia, S., Mekiffer, B., Schwartz, C., & Wessolek, G.
(2012). Contribution of bricks to urban soil properties. Journal of
Soils and Sediments, 13(3), 575–584.
 Rossiter DG (2007) Classification of urban and industrial soils in the
World Reference Base for Soil Resources. J Soils Sediments 7:96–
100