Detailed characterization of two important agricultural soils of contrasting parent materials, found in southeastern Nigeria was carried out. The Amakama soil formed over Coastal Plain Sands has a deep, well drained profile greater than 240cm deep. The soil texture varies from loamy sand in the surface layer to sandy clay loam down the profile. The Ibeku soil formed over Bende-Ameki (clay shale) formation has a deep profile that is gravelly in the upper 60cm and clayey in the lower horizons. Bulk density on oven dry basis ranged from 1.3 to 1.66 g cm-3 in the Ibeku soil and from 1.43 to1.52 g cm-3 in the Amakama soil. Water content at 33 kPa ranged from 13.7 to 14.9 in the Amakama soil and from 27.8 to 48.4 in the Ibeku soil. Chemically, the Amakama soil is deficient in basic cations with aluminum saturation being greater than 83%. The soils are very acidic (pH 4.5-4.9) and low in organic carbon, total nitrogen and available phosphorus. In contrast, the Ibeku soil has high levels of calcium, sum of basic cations that range from 9.2 to 23.5 cmol(+) kg-1 and aluminum saturation of 25-40%. Total nitrogen and organic carbon are medium and available phosphorus is low in this soil. The mineralogy of clay sized particles showed a dominance of kaolinite in both soils with some quantities of montmorillonite that increased down the profile. In the Ibeku soil, the mineralogy of coarse silt fractions showed that goethite and quartz were the dominant minerals in upper horizons (< 1 m) while potassium feldspar and goethite dominated the lower horizons. Amakama soil was classified as Fine loamy, siliceous, isohyperthermic, Rhodic Haplustox while Ajata-Ibeku soil was classified as very fine, kaolinitic, isohyperthermic, Aquertic Paleustalf.

Field studies were carried out in 2011 and 2013 planting seasons at the Teaching and Research Farm of Federal University of Technology, Owerri Imo State to evaluate the effect of burnt and unburnt agro-wastes on soil properties, growth and yield of cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta) in a Typic-Haplustult. Treatments consisted of saw dust, rice mill waste, cocoa pod waste each applied at 10 t haG 1 and saw dust ash, rice mill waste ash and cocoa pod ash each applied at 5 t haG 1 and control. The treatments were laid out in a randomized complete block design and replicated four times. Data collected from soil analyses and growth performances of cocoyam were subjected to analysis of variance, while, significant means among treatments were separated using least significant difference at 5% probability level. Results obtained showed that plots amended with 10 t haG 1 cocoa pod waste significantly (p<0.05) reduced soil bulk density from 1.

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The influence of pig manure, urea and their combinations on the performance of Amaranthus cruentus was investigated for two years in a rainforest Ultisol of Umudike. The experiment was laid down in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Six treatments consisted of pig manure applied at equivalent rates of 90 kg N/ha as full dose of manure, urea at 60 kg N/ha as full dose of urea. Other treatments were ½ dose of manure (45 kg N/ha) + ½ dose of urea (30 kg N/ha), ¼ dose of manure (22.5 kg N/ha) + ¾ dose of urea (45 kg N/ha), ¾ dose of manure (67.5 kg N/ha) + ¼ dose of urea (15 kg N/ha), and the absolute control. Results indicated that Amaranthus plant height was not significantly (P >0.05) affected by the treatments compared to the control. The overall results showed that the combination of ½ manure + ½ urea significantly (P < 0.05) increased stem girth (17.42 cm), number of leaves per plant (44.76), fresh yield (41.51 t/ha) and dry matter yield (3.49 t/ha) of Amaranthus than sole application of either of them, and is therefore recommended as the best for optimum production of Amaranthus in the study area.