Soil Quality Assessment of Different Land Use in Kabba Southern Guinea Savannah of Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed the soil qualities of five land use types; Oil palm plantation, Nursery site, Forest (Teak), Citrus orchard and Arable Crop land in Kabba College of Agriculture using selected biological indicators which include, Organic Carbon (OC), Total Nitrogen (TN), Microbial Biomass Carbon (MBC) and Microbial Biomass Nitrogen (MBN). An area of 40 m x 30 m that is representative of each land use was selected, sampled and analyzed following standard procedures for laboratory analysis. The highest values of OC (18.41 g/kg) and TN (7.95 g/kg) were obtained at the nursery site followed by Oil Palm (OC - 14.12 g/kg; TN - 6.56 g/kg), the lowest values were obtained at the Arable Crops site (OC - 10.53 g/kg; TN - 5.20 g/kg). The MBC values ranged from 307 – 498 mg/kg across the land use studied. The MBN values obtained in this study ranged between 16.93 - 34.41 mg/kg. The MBC/MBN ratios obtained in this study were relatively high and in the following order Forest land (26.5 mg/kg) > Oil Palm Plantation (21.3 mg/kg) > Citrus orchard (19.5 mg/kg) > Nursery site (15.9 mg/kg) > Arable Crops land (12.2 mg/kg) respectively indicating the predominance of fungi in these soils. It is recommended that sustainable practices that will encourage replenishment of C and N into the soil should be adopted in the study area.

Morphological Variations of Soils in Alluvial Floodplain of Sokoto Northwest Nigeria

“…At the subsurface of P1, a Btg3 horizon of grayish yellow brown (10YR 6/2 dry) was found while same layer under wet condition is dull yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) with abundance of many to common mottles of orange (7.5YR 6/8 and 6/6) with similar occurrence in P2. The greyish yellow brown and common mottles at the subsurface is due to the nature of the soils which were wetland, and it agrees with the finding of Babalola et al (2011) that major morphological features such as grey or low chroma (<3) colour and mottles were characteristic of floodplain soils, and it is an indication of soil wetness brought about by oxidation-reduction cycle due to ground water fluctuation. The dull yellowish brown to dull yellow orange colours indicates the presence of ferric-iron oxide as reported by Brady and Weil (2008).…”

Inventory and Spatial Distribution of Trees in Eleme Local Government Area, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

“…A total of 27 different individual woody tree species were encountered with 185 frequency of occurrence Most of the trees were planted on purpose which play very crucial roles in the life of the urban populace in the area of food security to enhance livelihood [15]. Babalola [16], found similar tree species within the University of Ibadan planted for same purposes. Also providing a multitude of aesthetic and environmental benefits thereby controlling air and noise pollution [17].…”