EFFECTS OF NUTRIENT SOURCES AND AGRO-ECOLOGY ON PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF SOIL IN BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study was conducted at both Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University teaching and research farm, Bauchi located in the Northern Guinea Savannah and also at Bulkachuwa village of Katagum LGA located in Sudan Savannah both in Bauchi state, during the wet seasons of 2016, 2017 and 2018 to investigate the effects of nutrient sources and agro-ecology on physic-chemical properties of soil. The treatments consisted of a factorial combination of five nutrient sources (poultry manure, cow dung, chicken feather, municipal waste, mineral fertilizer) and a control and two varieties of castor (Ex-India 1 and 2), these gave 12 treatment combinations and laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The results of the experiment revealed a significant (P≤0.05) difference among the treatments used throughout the study period. The results of the soil analysis before the conduct of the experiment revealed that, the soil in both locations is sandy loam in texture. It also indicated that, the soils are slightly acidic, low in organic carbon, available P (mg/kg) and total N (g/kg) while the exchangeable cations (cmol/kg) are medium, following the ESU rating. The result after treatment application showed that, soil texture remained the same (sandy loam) in both locations. The soil pH was neutral to slightly acidic while organic carbon ranged from medium to high with highest value in poultry manure and chicken feather in Bauchi but generally low to medium in Bulkachuwa location. Available P and total N were medium to high in Bauchi but low to medium in Bulkachuwa location. However, the exchangeable cations were rated to be high in both locations following ESU rating. Based on the results of this study, Application of poultry manure or chicken feather at the rate of 2 tons/ha should be adopted by farmers in the study area for good soil fertility restoration.