Variability of Selected Physico-chemical Properties of Soil Overlying Different Parent Materials in Odukpani, Cross River State

Effect of Organic Manure and Agricultural Lime on Growth and Yield of Two Bean Varieties

“…This indicates high nutrient reserves in soils from Akamkpa and Odukpani except for Calabar Municipality which showed low nutrient reserves. The current findings corroborates the reports of [14,21]. The physico-chemical properties after treatment of the soils revealed significant improvement on majority of the tested parameters.…”

“…Results on physico-chemical properties before treatment of composite soil samples revealed percentage carbon in the range of 1.91-2.05 % across the three soil (pH) levels. This is similar to the report of Bello and Ukut [19] and earlier findings of a low to moderate organic carbon content in soils from Odukpani Local Government Area [14]. This range of carbon is enough to support plant growth.…”

“…The beneficial effect of soil amendment with agricultural lime and organic manure on crop productivity is a function of so many factors, which include greater vigor of plant, improvement of soil properties and greater uptake of nutrients [13]. Soil in most parts of Southern Cross River have been reported to be acidic and crops cultivated on such soil grow and yield poorly [14]. Addition of substances such as agricultural lime and organic manure are known to reverse the trend and many authors have reported on yield improvement in crops after amendment of soil with organic manure [8,9,13,15,16,17,18].…”

Agricultural potentials of floodplain soils with contrasting parent material in Cross River State, Nigeria

“…The high and moderate levels of organic carbon detected on the floodplains soils of both parent materials could be attributable to the accumulation of residues of the fallow vegetation over a long time and the deposits brought by flood water. The upland soil of the study area from other previous studies is however noted to have low organic carbon levels (Amalu and Isong, 2015;Afu et al, 2017) when compared to those obtained in floodplain soil for this study, and this can significantly promote crop production. Hence, it can be infer that floodplain soil has higher potential for crop production in terms of organic carbon supply.…”

“…Despite the over-whelming acceptance of floodplain soils for agriculture, those located within Obufa Esuk Orok, Calabar and Awi, Akamkpa have little been studied and are currently under-utilized and their soil qualities and agricultural potential to support crop growth and yield is unknown. Although, wide variations in nutrient contents exist between upland soils developed on different parent materials within the same climatic condition and geographical location in Cross River State (Gbadegesin et al, 2011, Afu et al, 2017 and elsewhere, but it is not clear if there would be similar significant differences in nutrient contents of floodplain soils developed on different parent material within the same environmental condition, bearing in mind that in all floodplain soils, fresh materials are frequently added through depositions and are characterized with a mixture of clay, silts, sands, and organic materials, and therefore, would both be considered to have high and similar soil fertility status and hence, potential for crop production (Reddy and DeLaune, 2008;Daniel et al, 2017). Thus, there is a need for testing the floodplain soils located on soils of two parent materials in Cross River State to find out if there are differences in soil properties between the two soils and to avoid a situation whereby a wrong soil management practice is imposed upon the soil in the event of allocating it for crop cultivation.…”