Abstract
A study was carried out to investigate composition and diversity of the soil microbial communities in rubber plantations of different ages. Soil samples were collected from five different plantations aged 10, 13, 18, 23, 28 years old (latitudes 6º9ʹ27.08, 6º9ʹ27.78, 6º9ʹ20.59, 6º9ʹ28.21, 6º9ʹ27.60 (E) and longitude 5º35ʹ49.61, 5º36ʹ38.13, 5º35ʹ27.95, 5º36ʹ11.37, 5º37ʹ12.50 (N) respectively) at Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria, Iyanomo, Benin City. The laboratory experiment was carried out at the Faculty of Agriculture main laboratory and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Bioscience Centre. The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. The results showed changes in soil microbial diversity and composition over the different ages of rubber tree plantations. The ages of the rubber tree plantations had no significant effect on the microbial populations as it varied irrespective of the ages. The soil microbial diversity tend to increase with increasing rubber tree plantation ages and were highest in 28 year-old whereas 13 and 18 year-old had the lowest values of diversity. Microbial activity increased with increasing rubber ages with the highest being at 28 year old (73.2 µg/g Soil). The diversity of the soil microbes increased with the increase in diversity of the vegetation. Soil microbial diversity and composition in the different stages were closely related with soil properties. Soils with lower pH values of 4.0 and 4.1 had less diversed microbial communities than others.
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