Abstract
This study analyzed relationships between soil properties and food crop production in Ebonyi State of southeast Nigeria. Free survey was conducted after three zones (Agbaja, Akaeze and Ikwo) in the state were purposely selected for representation of the soil sampling. Two types of sampling were conducted; Auger sampling at 0 - 20 and 20 - 40 cm depths and soil profile sampling. Annual crop yield data on maize and cassava for the state from 1988 to 2017 were collected from Agriculture Development Program. Variations in properties among soil horizons were obtained using coefficient of variations while soil parameters were regressed against crop yields to establish their relationships. Results showed that fine sand, total sand, bulk density, total porosity, soil pH, and available phosphorus significantly (p = 0.05) differ from 0 - 20 cm and 20 - 40 cm depths. Also, cassava yield correlated negatively with base saturation, and organic matter at 0.05 probability level; with exchangeable Ca and Na at 0.01 probabilities level but correlated positively with bulk density and available water capacity at 0.01 and 0.05 probability levels, respectively. Similarly, maize yield correlated negatively with available phosphorus and total nitrogen at 0.05 probability level; and with total porosity and exchangeable Ca at 0.01 probability level; and then correlated positively with available water capacity, and bulk density, at 0.01 probability level; with coarse sand at 0.05 probability level. However, soils of Ebonyi State are fertile but some of the chemical properties are still low, therefore, it is paramount to improve the quality of the soil to achieve improved food security in the state.
Highlights
According to [1], there are strong indications and evidences that the agricultural and food system as well as the rural area across the world are experiencing major climatic changes
Results show that maize yield in 1988 was 2.78 m/ton and cassava, 10.11 m/ton but in 1998 maize yield dropped to 2.18 m/ton and cassava increased to 12.50 m/ton, while in 2008 maize yield decreased further to 2.07 m/ton and cassava increased to 15.00 m/ton, and in the last study year (2017) maize yield increased to 4.85 m/ton and cassava decreased to 13.75 m/ton
Comparing the two sampling depth, there were low variability in the Cl, bulk density, total porosity, moisture content, field capacity (FC), and permanent wilting point (PWP) while medium variability occurred in AWC and high variability occurred in coarse sand (CS), fine sand (FS), FS and Si
Summary
According to [1], there are strong indications and evidences that the agricultural and food system as well as the rural area across the world are experiencing major climatic changes They affirmed that the changes had drastically reduced soil fertility and led to poor agricultural outputs in sub-Saharan Africa. The recurrent food crisis in Nigeria is partly due to the high rate of population growth over food production level and erratic amounts of food crops produced from year to year. This can be attributed to high susceptibility of the country to serious environmental hazards extreme climate events, poor soil quality, deforestation, continuous cropping and unhindered desert encroachment [5]. From the foregoing, it is clear that there are many factors that affect the growing period of crops, which to a greater extent determine the crop growth cycle and its yield
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