EVALUATION OF SOIL VITAL CHEMISTRY OF SELECTED COMMUNITY FARMLANDS WITHIN AND AROUND MUBI PROVINCE, ADAMAWA STATE.

I.B. Bwatanglang*, S.T. Magili, Y.Z.Daniel

Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry,

Adamawa State University, Mubi, Nigeria

Email: ibbbirma@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The integration of physical, chemical, and biological properties to monitor and interpret changes in soil quality is an index that needs to be adapted at a community level for local farmers. Since the parameters needed to determine changes in soil quality may differ from one vegetation to another, routine soil test will provide a meaningful index to farmers on how to correlates whether the farmlands soil quality is improving, stagnant, or depreciating. This study was conducted to determine the health status of soils collected from farmlands within and around Mubi provinces, by measuring soil physicochemical parameters that are inherently associated with soil quality. The soil characterization was carried out by investigating the soil water holding capacity (WHC), the pH, electrical conductivity (EC), Bulk density (BD) and soil organic matter content (SOM) using conventional analytical methods. The results obtained revealed that the mean concentrations values of the physicochemical parameters in the soil samples were in the range of; 117-420% for WHC, 6.32±0.50-7.71±0.78 for pH, 0.08±0.47-0.85±0.49ds/m for EC, 1.3±0.5-1.7±0.4g/cm³ for BD, and 0.327±0.630-1.759±0.550 % for SOM. The pH was found to vary from moderate acidic to near alkaline. The values of EC indicated that the soils are non-saline. Though, the overall results shows the soil retaining some basic health status, the low SOM recorded is an indication that in the near foreseeable future, the soil may loss it vitality. Therefore, effective soil management approaches should be implemented forthwith to salvage the soil from depreciating.

Keywords: Soil Health, Nutrient, physicochemical, Organic matter, Crops, Farmlands.