Knowledge of the soil minerals is an important index in understanding the soil fertility properties since mineral surfaces serve as both the source and sink of plant nutrients. Soils developed from contrasting parent materials viz: Coastal Plain Sand, Sandstone, Basalt and Shale at different soil horizons (0-20 cm, 20-40 cm and 40-60 cm) in South Eastern Nigeria were studied for mineralogical properties. Soil samples were collected from the different parent material in three replicates and a total of thirty six composite samples were collected. These samples were subjected to X-ray diffraction analysis with Siemens D5000 diffractometer using Cuką radiation with Iron(fe) filter (λ = 1.5409A) at 40kv and 30 mA, at a scan rate of 2° per minute. The experimental design was a 4 x 3 factorial in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). Statistical analysis revealed significant (P<0.05) variation in soil physical and chemical properties with parent material and soil depth except organic matter "OM", total nitrogen "TN", magnesium "Mg +2" total exchangeable acidity "TEA" and base saturation "BS" where variations were not significant. However, interaction between parent material and soil depth was only significant in influencing the Original Research ArticlepH. Top soil layers had a significant greater amount of OM, TN, AP, cations, Sand and Silt. Generally, soil of shale formation was superior, followed by basaltic soil in these soil fertility indicators, while soil of Coastal Plain Sand formation had the least amounts. Parent material and depth played dominant roles in the type and distribution of clay minerals in the study area. The concentration of these minerals varied with parent material and soil depth. Significant variations with parent material were observed in the minerals identified except in Halloysite and Chlorite where non-significant variations were observed. While variations with depth were statistically significant (P<0.05) in Chlorite, Geothite, Hermatite, Montmorillonite and Quartz, the influence of the interaction between parent material and soil depth were only significant in Gibbsite, Kaolinite and Montmorillonite. Soil derived from Coastal Plain Sand had, Kaolinite (9.94 to 28.83%) and Quartz (56.4 to 87.3%) as the dominant clay minerals and these decreased with depth. Soil formed in shale had mixed clay mineralogy of montmorillonite (14.37 to 21.88%), goethite (23.58 to 25.09 %), hermatite (20.39 to 24.19%), gibbsite (8.48 to 12.10%), kaolinite (6.89 to 3.56%) and others with depth. Soil formed in sandstone has Kaolinite accounted for 26.42 to 31.26%, goethite, 7.77 to14.87%, and quartz accounted for 35.4 to 51.8%. Other minerals identified were: hermatite (4.58 to 14.62%), gibbsite (1.70 to 5.23%), while soils derived from basalt had kaolinite (14.64 to 27.44 %), quartz (23.7 to 42.5%), hematite (11.0 to 23.14%), goethite (13.94 to 26.48%) as the dominant crystalline minerals present in the soil. The study concludes that the mineralogy of Southeastern Nigeria consists of quartz, kaolinite, hermati...
The study evaluated the fertility status of some land use types in Orlu area of Imo State using elemental ratio. Soil samples were collected from three land use types namely; plantain plantation, oil palm plantation and cassava. A total of 18 samples were collected. Six soil samples were randomly collected from each land use at depths of 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm. Routine analyses were conducted and Ca/Mg and K/Mg were used to determine the fertility status of the soils. The result of physical properties indicated that mean sand content of the soils ranged from 820.1-910.1 g/kg. The mean silt content of the soils ranged from 13.3-56.7 g/kg while the clay content ranged from 76.5-136.5 mg/kg. Bulk density was highest under oil palm (1.43 g/cm 3) and lowest under cassava (1.10 g/cm 3). The results of the chemical properties showed that mean pH varied from 5.0-5.7. Soil organic carbon was highest under plantain (16.9 g/kg) and lowest under oil palm (9.3 g/kg). Ca/Mg ratio was highest under plantain (1.78) and lowest under cassava (1.20). The K/Mg was highest under oil palm (0.14) and lowest under plantain (0.02). Ca/Mg ratio of the soils indicates possible Ca deficiency and phosphorus inhibition. The K/Mg ratio of the soils shows non inhibition of the uptake of magnesium Ca/Mg ratio varied highly under plantain and cassava but had medium variation under palm oil. There was significant negative relationship between K/Mg and Mg, ECEC, Ca, base saturation (BS) and available phosphorus (-0.85,-0.85,-0.86,-0.77, and-0.47) respectively.
The global spread of soil degradation threatens the sustainability of human life. The review focused on soil degradation beyond global pandemic, causes, impacts, control and prospects. The work majorly concentrated on developing countries like Nigeria while giving a global view of soil degradation. In this work we attempted to show the critical nature of soil degradation, requiring serious attention like the current global pandemic known as corona virus or covid 19. We show that the causes of soil erosion are associated with the degradation of key physical and chemical soil properties. Notable physical soil property reductions are caused by water and wind erosion, including surface crust formation, and the chemical soil property reductions are associated with soil fertility decline, salinization, sodification, and other processes. Each cause of soil degradation may be traced to land management. This review notes that addressing soil degradation is important to meeting the 2015 United Nation sustainable development goals.
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