Assessment of soil characteristics under four cropping and land management systems in south west Nigeria

Abstract

Soil degradation and desertification pose a major threat to agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa. The influence of cropping systems which had been established on selected physical and chemical properties of soil were investigated in Akinyode-Okinni community in Egbedore Local Government Area (LGA) of Osun State, Nigeria. The cropping systems included agri-silviculture (SCM), silvi-pasture (SPC), agri-horti-silviculture (PAH) and agroforestry (AFT) selected from existing farms in the community. The selected plots had cocoa (Theobroma cacao), oil palm (Elais guineensis) and kolanut (Kola nitida) as permanent crops; coco-yam (Coco nucifera), guinea grass (Panicum maximum), plantain (Musa spp), maize (Zea mays), and cassava (Manihot utilissima) were the annual crops. The experiment was carried out for two cropping seasons. Results showed that in the AFT system, bulk density (BD) decreased slightly from 1.22 to 1.16 g/cm 3 in the top soil and from 1.18 to 1.09 g/cm 3 in the subsoil after two cropping seasons. The pH varied between 6.40 and 7.05 in the first season and between 7.05 and 7.29 after two seasons. On average, the topsoil contained more organic carbon (OC) in SPC (38 g kg -1 ) and SCM (36 g kg -1 ) systems than in the PAH and AFT systems. Similarly, the total phosphorus content was higher in the topsoil of SPC and SCM systems than in the other systems. There was a slight reduction in soil acidity and no significant changes occurred in the concentrations of exchangeable bases after two cropping seasons. Conclusively, these cropping systems have the potential to reduce soil deterioration and thus; further studies to develop appropriate management strategies are necessary.

Progressive community, biogeochemical and evolutionary remodeling of the soil microbiome underpins long-term desert ecosystem restoration

“…At the polyculture site, restoration with SI improved the soil biophysiochemical properties, as demonstrated by significantly increased (Kruskal-Wallis and Generalized Linear Model [GLM]; p.adj < 0.05) soil DNA abundances, fractional vegetation cover (FVC), hydraulic properties (1/Ks), electrical conductivity (EC), macronutrients (C, N, P, Mg, and Ca), micronutrients (Fe, Zn, and Co), and other helpful elements (Ti and Al; Figures 1C, 1D, S1F, and S2A) 26,27 . Still, a significant gap exists between the recovered nutrient level and the arable topsoil (Figure S2A) 28,29 . The DI method was not as effective but showed significantly increased ( p.adj < 0.05) DNA abundance, FVC, and hydraulic properties over time (Figures 1C and S2B).…”

“…The SD region showed drastically different network characteristics in almost every category (Figure S4C). Keystone taxa, playing crucial roles in a community (Methods), were identified from the SD (3) and SI (28) regions, which belonged to Proteobacteria, Euryarchaeota, and Thaumarchaeota (Figure S4D). These results demonstrated that archaea are critical in community structure besides bacteria.…”

The Distribution and Soil Carbon Stock on Land Utility Types of Bush, Moor, Mixed Garden and Rainfed Rice Fields on Dry Land in Aceh Besar Regency

“…The study of the potential for soil carbon in this land use can be used as an effort to create and monitor in the future for revegetation and soil protection in order to raise soil carbon stocks. Previous research from Lamidi et al (2018) divided soil depth on a scale: 0-15, 15-30, 30-45, and 45-60 cm for SOC sequestration studies. Research by Susanti et al (2021) also conducted a study of SOC in the Blang Bintang sub-district in Aceh Besar district.…”

The content of mineral nitrogen in Histosols and its relationship with soil organic matter

“…Most of these studies are conducted early in spring and autumn, less often in summer, as due to intense mineralisation of plant residues and organic matter in the soil, the content of N min significantly increases (Aurangojeb et al, 2017;Friesen, Cattani, 2017;Tripolskaja et al, 2017). This increase mainly occurs in the upper 0-30 cm soil layer (Deng et al, 2016;Wasiu et al, 2018).…”