Soil Physico-chemical Properties Changes under Different Crops in Ado Ekiti, Nigeria

Abstract

The sustainable soil management necessary to maintain soil quality depends on the understanding of how the soil responds to agricultural practices over time. This paper reports the changes in physicochemical properties that resulted from different cropping systems on a soil in Ado Ekiti, Nigeria. Soil samples were collected from sole maize plot (1.0 ha), sole cowpea plot (1.0ha) and cassava/maize intercrop plot (0.6ha) on a land that was previously under fallow. The sand, silt and clay contents of the soil and some selected chemical parameters varied considerably within the study area (different cropping zones). The soil was generally sandy loam and was found to vary from slightly acidic to slightly alkaline and generally low in Soil Organic Matter (SOM) and Available P (Av. P) with no salinity problem. High magnitude of variability was observed for Electrical Conductivity (EC), Av. P and SOM while pH had the least magnitude. A geostatistical evaluation of the soil chemical properties showed moderate to strong spatial dependence. The geospatial maps clearly revealed the heterogeneity of the soil chemical properties across the field. Both classical statistics and geo-statistical analyses of the soil of the area provided a better understanding of the spatial variability of soil chemical properties and the influence that such could have on crop performance. The results indicated that the soil pH is slightly acidic and contained low amounts of both SOM and Av. P. It is suggested that planting of cover crops, minimum tillage and controlled application of phosphate fertilizer should be done so as to increase the SOM, improve Av. P and maintain the soil pH. Further studies should be conducted to include other soil chemical properties such that robust site specific management programme could be effected.

Variability modeling and mapping of soil properties for improved management in Ethiopia

“…Strong and MSD might be induced by inherent soil characteristics, including soil texture, topography, climate, and soil biology, whereas weak spatial structure may be caused by extrinsic factors, for example, land-use practices (Awe, Nurudeen, Amiola, et al, 2018bib4;Awe, Nurudeen, Omotoso, et al, 2018;Awe et al, 2020). Strong spatial dependencies of soil characteristics could also be ascribed to climate, parent substances, topography, organ-isms, and time (Cambardella et al, 1994;Wang et al, 2009;Tesfahunegn et al, 2011).…”