scholarly journals Soil fertility indices of tropical loamy sand as influenced by bambara groundnut variety, plant spacing and fertilizer type

Agro-Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-71
Author(s):  
C.P. Umeugokwe ◽  
V.U. Ugwu ◽  
O.P. Umeugochukwu ◽  
I.M. Uzoh ◽  
S.E. Obalum ◽  
...  

Agricultural sustainability ensues when cultivation of field crops and associated techniques improve not just crop yields but also management-responsive soil properties. Bambara groundnut as an underutilized crop lacks research-based information on its agronomic requirements. This paper reports the key fertility indices of a loamy-sand soil in southeastern Nigeria as influenced by soil and agronomic management practices involving factorial combinations of two bambara groundnut varieties (Caro and Olokoro), two plant spacings (30 cm × 75 cm and 45 cm × 75 cm) and four organic/inorganic fertilizer options. These fertilizer options were NPK 15-15-15 (NPK), single super phosphate (SSP), poultry manure (PM) and Control. The plots under Caro variety spaced 30 cm × 75 cm and grown with NPK or SSP fertilizer showed the highest CEC (8.40 cmol kg–1) and exchangeable K (0.15 cmol kg–1), respectively. Olokoro variety spaced 45 cm × 75 cm and grown with PM or SSP gave the highest total nitrogen (0.14%), soil pHwater (6.35), available phosphorus (107.60 mg kg-1) and exchangeable Ca (3.70 cmol kg-1). The interactions plant spacing × fertilizer type and crop variety × fertilizer type affected all the soil fertility indices studied, while crop variety × plant spacing affected soil pHwater, available phosphorus, CEC and exchangeable Ca and Mg. Generally, as main factors, Olokoro variety, NPK and 45 cm × 75 cm improved soil properties better than their counterparts.

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (51) ◽  
pp. 27-32
Author(s):  
Biljana Sikirić ◽  
Vesna Mrvić ◽  
Olivera Stajković-Srbinović ◽  
Vladan Ugrenović ◽  
Darko Jaramaz ◽  
...  

During the regular control of soil fertility in the Rasina District, it was established that the plots of land were distributed across Vertisol, Eutric Cambisol and Fluvisol types of soils, and to a lesser extent on Pseudogley and Ranker. The tested samples had different textures - sandy loam and loam, clay-sandy loam and clay loam, and clay. Plots of land that were of very acidic and acidic reactions were predominant, with medium amounts of humus, very low amounts of available phosphorus, and high amounts of available potassium. High or very high cation absorption capacity was found in about half of the examined fields; a deficient content of exchangeable Ca was recorded in 22% of plots and that of exchangeable Mg in 16% of plots, while an unfavorable Ca/Mg ratio was measured in 44% of plots. The overall sensitivity to acidification was mainly moderate (50.6% of plots) and strong (20.2% of plots). Very high concentrations of mobile Al, which could be toxic to plants, were found in 5 field plots.


Author(s):  
TN Shila ◽  
MS Islam ◽  
MMM Hoque ◽  
MH Kabir ◽  
MR Jamil ◽  
...  

The study was conducted to investigate the soil properties and pesticide intensity in rice, banana and brinjal growing agricultural land of Delduar and Sakhipur upazila of Tangail district during July 2019 to June 2020. Forty five soil samples were collected from different crop land at the study area and analyzed in the Soil Resource Development Institute to determine the soil properties as pH, total organic matter (OM), total nitrogen (N), available phosphorus (P), available sulfur (S), available zinc (Zn), exchangeable potassium (K), exchangeable magnesium (Mg) and exchangeable calcium (Ca). However, pesticide used intensity was also evaluated through questionnaire survey with farmers and stakeholders in the study area. Results showed that pH, OM, available N, exchangeable Ca and exchangeable Mg content were significantly higher in rice growing land than banana and brinjal. On the other hand, available P, exchangeable K and available Zn content were substantially higher in brinjal growing land than rice and banana. The OM showed significant positive correlation with soil pH, available N, available S, exchangeable Mg and exchangeable Ca (r=0.37, 0.99, 0.31, 0.59 and 0.63, respectively), indicated rice growing land built up these soil properties through increasing soil OM. The available P showed significant and positive correlation with K and Zn (r=0.55 and 0.74, respectively), but negative correlation with exchangeable Mg and exchangeable Ca (r=-0.53 and -0.32, respectively). The exchangeable K showed significant and positive correlation with available Zn (r=0.45) but negative correlation with exchangeable Mg (r=-0.37). The Mg showed significant negative correlation with available Zn (r=-0.45) but positive correlation with exchangeable Ca (r=0.87). Results also revealed that pesticide used intensity was higher in brinjal followed by banana and minimum in rice crop. Study suggests that farmers require up-to-date information on soil nutrient status so that they may use the proper utilization of fertilizers and avoid using excessive amounts of fertilizers and pesticides in their crop land. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 11(2): 85-94, Dec 2021


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Munir H. Zia ◽  
A. Hameed Lodhi ◽  
Muhammad Zahid Aziz ◽  
Aftab Naseem ◽  
Waqar Ahmad ◽  
...  

Abstract Surveys of soil fertility and quality provide essential information, at multiple scales, for policy and management decisions on agricultural and environmental questions. Such surveys are expensive, and national-scale agricultural or geochemical surveys are conducted infrequently by public sector organisations. Where resources are scarce, the costs of management, sample collection, analysis, and data management can be prohibitive. This is likely to create a particular barrier to understanding how soil fertility may influence crop production in contexts where small-scale production is prevalent. Private sector soil laboratories conduct soil fertility analyses on thousands of samples annually: samples are often collected in a systematic way by experienced technical staff. The simple step of collecting location coordinates can greatly extend the utility of the data, beyond the immediate value to the farmer and without an added burden on them. Here we use a dataset of soil organic matter (SOM), plant-available phosphorus (P) and exchangeable potassium (K), from c. 27,000 georeferenced sample points collected in 2014-2017 in Pakistan by Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC). Geostatistical methods are used to model the spatial variation of these soil properties and predict their values at unsampled locations. The geostatistical model allows the probability that soil properties fall below recommended thresholds for wheat production, and these probabilities are displayed as maps using "calibrated phrases" for probability ranges in the legend. The resulting maps provide a comprehensive overview of key agronomic data across ~194,000 km2 of cropland, realised as a direct consequence of sample location data collection being implemented by FFC. There is spatial structure in the SOM and K data, but not in the P data. These maps can be used to educate agronomists and farmers about typical soil fertility conditions in their region, and where soil analysis is a priority. They can also support more strategic planning of fertiliser needs in Pakistan where widespread nutrient deficiencies are found. This research demonstrates the potential for this approach to be used in many wider geographic contexts where there are few data from one-off survey activities. Additional benefits address concerns about data privacy have thus far limited their integration into a spatially disaggregated output that could benefit wider society.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mugunthan Perumal ◽  
Mohd Effendi Wasli ◽  
Ho Soo Ying ◽  
Jonathan Lat ◽  
Hamsawi Sani

A study was conducted to determine the status of soil properties after enrichment planting in comparison to an adjacent secondary forest and to evaluate the effect of enrichment planting of Shorea macrophylla (de Vriese) on the soil fertility status with special reference to Soil Fertility Index (SFI) and Soil Evaluation Factor (SEF) at Sampadi Forest Reserve, Sarawak. The study sites were stands rehabilitated in different years (1996: SM96; 1997: SM97; 1998: SM98; 1999: SM99) and secondary forest (SF). Findings indicated that the soils at rehabilitation sites and SF were strongly acidic in nature, with pH less than 5.50, poor soil exchangeable bases, and nutrient status. The soils were relatively of sandy clay loam to sandy clay. Principal Component Analysis revealed the three most significant components of the soil properties which explained 76.3% of the total variation. At surface soils, SFI was correlated with tree growth parameters of S. macrophylla, indicating that SFI is an applicable soil quality index as compared to SEF. Notwithstanding, a significant association was found between soil available phosphorus and planted S. macrophylla, indicating that soil phosphorus is a better indicator than SFI. Further studies on other environmental factors influencing tree growth performance, early establishment of experimental reforestation at nursery, and field should be implemented to obtain the initial data on seedling growth performance prior to outplanting.


2012 ◽  
Vol 183 ◽  
pp. 231-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Pazos ◽  
A. Plaza ◽  
M. Martín ◽  
M.C. Lobo

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Jin ◽  
Luoqi Wang ◽  
Karin Müller ◽  
Jiasen Wu ◽  
Hailong Wang ◽  
...  

AbstractMonitoring the temporal and spatial variation of soil properties is helpful to understand the evolution of soil properties and adjust the management method in time. Soil fertility evaluation is an urgent need to understand soil fertility level and prevent soil degradation. Here, we conducted an intensive field investigation in Chinese hickory (Carya cathayensis Sarg.) plantation to clarify the spatial and temporal variation of soil properties and its influencing factors, and to evaluate the change of soil fertility. The results showed that the soil pH and soil organic carbon (SOC) significantly increased from 2008 to 2018, while available nitrogen (AN) significantly decreased from 2008 to 2018. The semi-variance revealed that except available phosphorus (AP), the spatial dependencies of soil properties increased from 2008 to 2018. An increasing south-north gradient was found for soil AN, AP, available potassium (AK) and SOC and a decreasing south-north gradient was found for soil pH. The average soil fertility in the whole area was increased from 2008 to 2018. Our findings demonstrated that the changes of the management measures were the reason for the change of soil properties from 2008 to 2018. Therefore, rational fertilization strategies and sod cultivation are recommended to maintain the long-term development of the producing forest.


Author(s):  
E. O. Azu Donatus ◽  
B. A. Essien ◽  
O. U. Nwanja ◽  
P. E. Nweke

The present study investigated the combined effect of rice husk dust (RHD) (0.1.2.3.4 and 5 ton ha-1) and NPK 10:10:10 fertilizer (0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 ton ha-1) arranged factorially in Randomized Complete Block Design(RCBD)on selected soil fertility indices (pH, organic carbon, organic matter, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, exchangeable bases, exchangeable acidity and effective cation exchange capacity) and growth parameters of Jatropha (number of leaves, plant height, number of branches and stem girth) in an ultisol of southeastern Nigeria. Results showed significant (P<0.05) improvement in all soil chemical properties and growth parameters of plant compared to control which had no treatment. However, the effects varied with treatment levels and interactions. While the effects increased with rate of application, interactions consistently showed superior effect on all parameters studied. Thus, combining rice husk dust (RHD) and NPK may increase the soil fertility and growth of Jatropha. Treatments combination of5tonha-1 RHD and 3tonha-1 NPK and 5tonha-1 RHD and 5tonha-1 NPK relatively gave the most appreciable result in soil chemical properties and growth of Jatropha respectively, thus are recommended.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5763
Author(s):  
Raza Ullah ◽  
Zubair Aslam ◽  
Mansoor Maitah ◽  
Qamar uz Zaman ◽  
Safdar Bashir ◽  
...  

Weed–crop competition and reduced soil fertility are some of the main reasons for decreased crop yields in Pakistan. Allelopathy can be applied to combat the problems of environmental degradation by reducing pesticide use and through reduction of herbicide-resistant weeds. A two-year field experiment (2014–2015) was conducted to assess the impact of incorporation of various levels of brassica residues and brassica water extract on the growth of mung bean and soil attributes. Two brassica water extract levels (10, 20 L/ha) and two residue levels (4, 6 t/ha) were tested, and a treatment with no water extract and residue incorporation was used as the control. The results showed that the water extract and residue incorporation had diverse impacts on soil fertility indices and weed dynamics, where treatment with 6 t/ha had more significant impacts. Compared with the control, reductions of 61% in dry weight of weeds and 52% in weed density were observed. After cropping, improved soil properties in terms of available potassium, available phosphorus, soil organic matter, and total nitrogen were higher in the rhizosphere (0–15 cm) soil after the treatments of residue incorporation, i.e., 59–91%, 62–84%, 29–45%, and 52–65% higher than the control, respectively. Meanwhile, alkaline phosphatase and dehydrogenase concentrations in the rhizosphere soil were 26–41% and 52–74% higher than with the control, respectively. The highest economic return with a high benefit–cost ratio was recorded with residue incorporation. In conclusion, addition of crop residues at 6 t/ha was the most effective and economical treatment with the highest net benefit rate of returns. This approach can provide a potential alternative for implementing sustainable weed control in mung bean with significant improvement in soil properties and can be a part of sustainable and eco-friendly agriculture.


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