Abstract
Application of Single Super Phosphate (SSP) fertilizer in soils with inadequate phosphorus (P) should elicit crop response. However, there is an indication of inconsistent response behaviour to SSP fertilizer in some Nigeria soils despite their low available P. This study identified major soil types in Southwestern Nigeria that are unresponsive to P fertilizer application under screenhouse condition and soil properties that are related to this unresponsive behaviour were determined. Soils from twenty locations in Southwestern Nigeria were selected to evaluate their response to four phosphorus fertilizer rates with a control replicated three times in a factorial arrangement laid out in randomized complete block design. Results indicated that most of the locations responded to initial P application except for Fashola 2 which produced significantly higher maize shoot yield in control soils. There were five other locations where no-response was observed. Multiple regression analysis showed that phosphorus sorption index was related to sand, organic matter and clay. Phosphorus accumulation in soil P reserves may explain the behaviour of the P-unresponsive soils irrespective of their available P levels.
Highlights
Increasing demand for food crop production for the ever rising human population still remains a challenge of modern agriculture
This study identified major soil types in Southwestern Nigeria that are unresponsive to P fertilizer application under screenhouse condition and soil properties that are related to this unresponsive behaviour were determined
The soil properties varied with the soil type
Summary
Increasing demand for food crop production for the ever rising human population still remains a challenge of modern agriculture. External P application remains a key to sustainable production under tropical conditions (Iyamuremye et al, 1996; Zhenoy & Kalagudi, 2005). Studies have shown that many Nigeria soils have available phosphorus (P) levels below critical level of < 8 mg kg-1 and require P fertilizer application (Agbenin, 2003; Egwu et al, 2010). Soils with high available P levels are mainly associated with high soil organic matter due to cropping system and management practices (Potarzycki et al, 2004). The application of P fertilizer has been shown to have tremendous effect on the soils especially the highly weathered tropical soils (Brady & Weil, 2008). FAO (2008) has reported significant crop response with application of native phosphorus fertilizer from rock phosphate in acid soils. Differential soil responses are largely due to inherent soil characteristics, P forms and management practices (Valizadeh et al, 2002), fertiliser recommendations should be designed to take cognizance of sorption characteristics of the soil
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