Assessment of impacts of charcoal production on soil properties in the derived savanna, Oyo state, Nigeria

Abstract

This study evaluated the impacts of charcoal production on soil properties in the derived savanna zone of South Western, Nigeria. Ten soil samples were collected randomly at the depth of 0 to10 cm in each of the charcoal production sites (CPS) and adjacent field sites (AFS) which is the control site. All soil samples collected were subjected to laboratory analysis for soil pH, particle size composition, available phosphorus, organic carbon, total nitrogen, exchangeable potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium, cation exchangeable capacity and base saturation. The mean of each of these soil properties was used for comparison and t-test was also used to determine the significant difference that exists in each soil property. The results of the analysis showed that the soils are texturally similar at both the CPS and AFS sites. The soil pH under CPS is 6.75 while it is 5.96 under AFS. The mean of the available phosphorous under CPS is 11.21 ppm while it is 2.07 ppm under AFS. The analysis reveals a slight increase in exchangeable calcium, sodium, magnesium, total nitrogen, organic carbon and base saturation contents of the soil in CPS while the amount of cation exchange capacity decreases in CPS with the mean value of 2.32 meq/100 g than the AFS with the mean value of 2.37 me/100 g. It is therefore recommended among others that there should be awareness to consider the age of trees, species and biomass before trees are cut down for charcoal production. Key words: Charcoal production, soil properties, assessment, derived savanna, Ibarapa East, Nigeria.