DEVELOPMENT AND PROPERTY EVALUATION OF PINEAPPLE (Ananas comosus) LEAVES GEOTEXTILE NET AS SOIL EROSION CONTROL MATERIAL

The study was conducted to develop pineapple (Ananas comosus) leaves into a geotextile net as mitigation for soil erosion; and to evaluate its properties as a potential soil erosion control material to reduce the rate and volume of soil loss. The pineapple leaves geotextile net was compared with the commercially available soil erosion control material (coco coir net) and no ground cover as control through subjecting soil test boxes with loam type of soil at 9% slope. Simulated rainfall events was conducted using water application of varying levels of intensities.

The statistical analysis using Completely Randomized Design (CRD) of the gathered data resulted to no significant difference at 5% level for water application rate for both shower and sprayer heads. The anova for runoff volume, runoff coefficient, sediment concentration and sediment yield for both shower and sprayer head sprinkler and runoff discharge rate for sprayer head showed a significant difference at 5% level. A highly significant difference at 5% level of significance was obtained for runoff discharge rate for shower head sprinkler. Further evaluating using mean pairwise comparison by Least Significant Difference (LSD), overall results showed that pineapple leaves geotextile net significantly affected the runoff volume, and runoff coefficient for sprayer head sprinkler compared to no ground cover and coco coir net; the runoff discharge rate for sprayer head sprinkler and runoff coefficient for shower head sprinkler compared to no ground cover. For the rest of the parameters, the pineapple leaves geotextile net and coco coir net are not significantly different but both are significantly better than no ground cover.

Pineapple leaf geotextile net manifested great potential as a soil erosion control material based on the results obtained. Furthermore, it has no significant difference from coco coir net on the different parameters, showing its high potential to be at par with coco coir net as a soil erosion control material.