scholarly journals An Assessment of Degradation of Soil Properties in Kabba College of Agriculture, Kogi State, Nigeria

Author(s):  
T.S. Babalola ◽  
K.S. Ogunleye ◽  
J. A. Lawal ◽  
A.O.A. Ilori

ome soils in Kabba College of Agriculture, Kogi State, southern guinea savannah zone of Nigeria, were assessed to ascertain the levels of degradation of soil properties. The rigid grid soil survey method was used to identify seven soil units. Soils were sampled at 0-20 cm and 20-40 cm soil depth and analyzed for physical and chemical properties using standard methods. Levels of degradation were obtained by comparing laboratory data with the standard land/soil requirement (indicators/criteria) for grouping lands into different degradation classes of 1 to 4 (non to slightly, moderately, highly, and very highly degraded). Results showed that units D (soghum) and E (citrus) were very highly degraded (Class 4) of exchangeable potassium; units C (yam), D and E were highly degraded (Class 3) of organic matter. Other units were moderately degraded (Class 2) of base saturation, bulk density and total nitrogen. There was no degradation of available phosphorus and exchangeable sodium percentage in all the units. Physical and chemical degradation took place in the study area with respect to bulk density, base saturation, total nitrogen, potassium, and organic matter. Sustainable management practices that will promote good bulk density and organic matter accumulation should be encouraged.

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-71
Author(s):  
Israt Jahan ◽  
AKM Abul Ahsan ◽  
MMR Jahangir ◽  
Mahmud Hossain ◽  
Md Anwarul Abedin

Soil physico-chemical properties are an important phenomenon for sustainable crop production and maintenance of optimum soil health. Hence, a laboratory measurement was conducted with soil samples of three years long experimental field of the Department of Soil Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh to assess the changes in five selected soil physico-chemical properties viz. soil texture, bulk density, soil pH, total nitrogen and organic matter. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design with two water regimes (continuous flooding and alternate wetting & drying) in the main plots and five fertilizer treatments (N0 - control, N1- 140 kg N/ha as PU, N2- 104 kg N/ha as USG (2× 1.8 g/ 4 hills), N3 - 5 t CD + PU @ 140 kg N /ha on IPNS basis and N4- 5 t CD + USG (2× 1.8 g/ 4 hills @ 104 kg N/ha)) in the subplots under rice-rice cropping pattern with three replications. After three years, soil samples were collected at 0-5 and 5-10 cm soil depths for measuring bulk density and at 0-10 cm depth for other soil properties and analyzed. Results found that % sand, % silt, % clay, bulk density and soil pH was not changed significantly compared to initial status. Percentage of total nitrogen and organic matter was significantly affected by irrigation and fertilization. Total nitrogen (%) was higher in AWD whereas organic matter (%) was higher in CF practice. The highest total nitrogen (%) and organic matter (%) was found in N4 treatment in which USG was applied in combination with cowdung as organic manure. It can be suggested that N4 treatment was formed good combination for sustaining chemical properties of soil. Further long- term experimentation will be needed to know the changes in soil properties for sustainable crop production and improving soil health. Asian Australas. J. Biosci. Biotechnol. 2020, 5 (2), 65-71


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Krista Marshall ◽  
Nick Balster ◽  
Alex Bajcz

The evaluation of prairie restorations tends to focus on aboveground properties such as changes in plant diversity and the encroachment of non-native species. As a result, knowledge gaps persist concerning belowground controls of restoration success. To address these gaps at a 13-year-old prairie restoration site in Madison, Wisconsin, we spatially compared soil chemical, physical, and hydrological properties in two adjacent parcels that differed markedly in response to a tallgrass prairie restoration. We hypothesized that soil properties and their heterogeneity would differ significantly between the two parcels and that these differences would help explain the divergent response. In support of this hypothesis, soil organic matter, pH, and total nitrogen were significantly lower (p = 0.007, p < 0.001, and p = 0.006, respectively) in the restored parcel compared to the parcel that has yet to respond to any restoration efforts. Moreover, despite no significant difference in soil average bulk density between the two parcels, the restored parcel had significantly lower sand and silt fractions overall (p = 0.039 and p = 0.040, respectively). In contrast, except for total nitrogen, there were no apparent differences in the spatial heterogeneity of the measured soil properties between the restored and unrestored parcels, which did not support the second hypothesis of this study. These results demonstrate the utility of measuring belowground properties when assessing unexpected outcomes of prairie restorations as well as inform future hypothesis-driven experiments to determine which soil properties impede restoration and under what circumstances. KEYWORDS: Prairie Restoration; Bulk Density; Soil Organic Matter; Soil Properties; Soil Texture; Spatial Heterogeneity


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akintola Opeyemi ◽  
Bodede Adewunmi ◽  
Abiola Oluwaseyi

The different features of soil greatly affect the flora and vegetative diversity of a forest. The physical and chemical characteristics of soils in Onigambari Forest Reserve were evaluated to assess the fertility and productivity status of the soils. Fifteen soil samples collected from different sample locations were analyzed for soil texture (sand, silt and clay), bulk density, porosity, pH, organic matter, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, exchangeable bases (Na, K, Ca and Mg) and available micronutrients (Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn). Texturally, the studied soils were loamy sand and sandy loam with percentage of sands (71.2-84.2 %), silts (7.4-10.4 %) and clay (6.4-19.4 %). The bulk density of the soils was 1.61-1.83 % while the porosity of the soils ranged from 35.2-44.1 %. The slightly acidic to neutral soil pH (5.90 - 6.60) and medium organic matter content (1.68 -2.60 %) suggest adequate level of soil nutrients. The soils had high total nitrogen (0.35 -0.65 %) and available phosphorus contents between 10.98 and 18.22mg/kg.


2012 ◽  
Vol 88 (03) ◽  
pp. 306-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Kabzems

Declines in forest productivity have been linked to losses of organic matter and soil porosity. To assess how removal of organic matter and soil compaction affect short-term ecosystem dynamics, pre-treatment and year 1, 5 and 10 post-treatment soil properties and post-treatment plant community responses were examined in a boreal trembling aspen (Populus tremuloidesMichx.)-dominated ecosystem in northeastern British Columbia. The experiment used a completely randomized design with three levels of organic matter removal (tree stems only; stems and slash; stems, slash and forest floor) and three levels of soil compaction (none, intermediate [2-cm impression], heavy [5-cm impression]). Removal of the forest floor initially stimulated aspen regeneration and significantly reduced height growth of aspen (198 cm compared to 472–480 cm) as well as white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss) height (82 cm compared to 154–156 cm). The compaction treatments had no effect on aspen regeneration density. At Year 10, heights of both aspen and white spruce were negatively correlated with upper mineral soil bulk density and were lowest on forest floor + whole tree removal treatments. Recovery of soil properties was occurring in the 0 cm to 2 cm layer of mineral soil. Bulk density values for the 0 cm to 10 cm depth remained above 86% of the maximum bulk density for the site, a soil condition where reduced tree growth can be expected.


1966 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. R. Saini ◽  
A. A. MacLean ◽  
J. J. Doyle

The relationship of the mean weight diameter of water-stable aggregates to certain soil properties (clay, organic matter, free iron, free aluminum, and polysaccharide contents) and the relationship of the increase in aggregation caused by VAMA to the same properties of 24 New Brunswick soils were evaluated by correlation and regression analyses.Simple correlation coefficients relating aggregation to soil properties indicated that organic matter (r = 0.627), polysaccharides (r = 0.602), and aluminum (r = 0.679) were the most important factors. However, when the influence of each factor was separated by partial correlation, the coefficients were not significant. On the other hand, the combined effects of all factors as indicated by the multiple correlation coefficient (r = 0.743) was significant at the 1% level. The effect of the same soil properties on response to VAMA, as shown by increase in mean weight diameter, indicated that clay exerted the greatest influence. The relationship with other factors was nonsignificant.


1971 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
MATT K. JOHN

Factors affecting removal of P from waste water effluent on 376 soils from British Columbia and six soils from New Zealand were studied. When shaken at a ratio of 1:50 soil to effluent, the soils of the dry British Columbia interior removed on an average 31% of the effluent P, whereas wet coastal soils removed 85% and the New Zealand soils removed 76%. The capacity of the soil to remove effluent P was related mostly to Al, Fe and P extracted by various extractants, pH, base saturation, organic matter and texture.


Soil Research ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 133 ◽  
Author(s):  
KL Sahrawat

The mineralizable nitrogen pool in wetland rice soils plays a dominant role in the nitrogen nutrition of rice even in fertilized paddies. There is a lack of information on how different soil properties affect ammonification of organic nitrogen in wetland rice soils. Surface samples of 39 diverse Philippine soils representing a wide range of pH, organic matter and texture were studied to determine the relationships between ammonification of organic nitrogen and soil properties. Simple correlation analysis showed that ammonium production was correlated highly significantly with total nitrogen (r = 0.94**), organic carbon (r = 0.91**) and C/N ratio (r = -0.46**), but it was not significantly correlated with cation exchange capacity, clay or pH. Multiple regression analayses showed that organic matter (organic carbon and total nitrogen) accounted for most of the variation in mineralizable nitrogen. These results suggest that organic carbon content is a good index of mineralizable nitrogen in tropical wetland rice soils.


1969 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 269-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. C. Liu ◽  
H. Cibes Viadé

Thirteen soils representing a wide range of physical and chemical properties were used in this study. Four herbicides including Atrazine, Ametryne, Prometryne, and Diuron were applied at a concentration series from 0.5 to 32 p.p.m. to each soil, with the exception of Caño Tiburones soil. Kanota oat (Avena sativa L.) was chosen as an indicator plant. ED50  values were obtained for the various soil types. The result indicated that ED50  values varied greatly with different soil types. Simple, partial, and multiple correlations were made among ED50  values and different soil properties. It was found that the organic matter was the major soil property which contributed chiefly to the phytotoxicity of herbicides. A theoretical relationship between percent soil organic matter and p.p.m.w. of herbicides required for 50-percent fresh-weight reduction of oat was obtained for herbicide dosage-prediction purpose.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 3189-3204
Author(s):  
Anne Hartmann ◽  
Markus Weiler ◽  
Theresa Blume

Abstract. Soil physical properties highly influence soil hydraulic properties, which define the soil hydraulic behavior. Thus, changes within these properties affect water flow paths and the soil water and matter balance. Most often these soil physical properties are assumed to be constant in time, and little is known about their natural evolution. Therefore, we studied the evolution of physical and hydraulic soil properties along two soil chronosequences in proglacial forefields in the Central Alps, Switzerland: one soil chronosequence developed on silicate and the other on calcareous parent material. Each soil chronosequence consisted of four moraines with the ages of 30, 160, 3000, and 10 000 years at the silicate forefield and 110, 160, 4900, and 13 500 years at the calcareous forefield. We investigated bulk density, porosity, loss on ignition, and hydraulic properties in the form of retention curves and hydraulic conductivity curves as well as the content of clay, silt, sand, and gravel. Samples were taken at three depths (10, 30, 50 cm) at six sampling sites at each moraine. Soil physical and hydraulic properties changed considerably over the chronosequence. Particle size distribution showed a pronounced reduction in sand content and an increase in silt and clay content over time at both sites. Bulk density decreased, and porosity increased during the first 10 millennia of soil development. The trend was equally present at both parent materials, but the reduction in sand and increase in silt content were more pronounced at the calcareous site. The organic matter content increased, which was especially pronounced in the topsoil at the silicate site. With the change in physical soil properties and organic matter content, the hydraulic soil properties changed from fast-draining coarse-textured soils to slow-draining soils with high water-holding capacity, which was also more pronounced in the topsoil at the silicate site. The data set presented in this paper is available at the online repository of the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ; Hartmann et al., 2020b). The data set can be accessed via the DOI https://doi.org/10.5880/GFZ.4.4.2020.004.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-106
Author(s):  
Cahyo Bagus Susanto ◽  
Syahrul Kurniawan

Entisol of Wajak Malang has low base saturation and organic matter and slightly acid. The result of the analysis also showed that soil has nutrient P with high criteria; however, N, K, Ca, Mg, Na contents are low to very low criteria. Application of humic acid at the first planting can leave residual nutrients and can still be used in the second planting. Besides urea-humic, goat manure can also be because it can improve soil properties, organic matter and nutrients contents. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of the application of urea-humic residue with goat manure on the availability of phosphorus, potassium and the growth of okra on an Entisol of Wajak Malang. The combination of treatments consisted of: U1 (soil residue urea-humic 100% + goat manure), UH1 (soil residue of urea-humic 75% + goat manure), UH2 (soil residue of urea-humic 100% + goat manure), UH3 (soil residue of urea-humic 125% + goat manure), UH4 (soil residue if urea-humic 150% + goat manure). The five treatments were arranged in a completely randomized design with three replicates. The results showed that urea-humic residue with application goat manure had no significant effect on available P, exchangeable K in the soil, plants height and leaf number of okra on 4, 6 and 8 weeks after planting.


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