Assessment of soil quality using soil organic carbon and total nitrogen and microbial properties in tropical agroecosystems英文文献资料.docVIP

Vol.2, No.1, 34-40 (2011) Agricultural Sciences doi:10.4236/as.2011.21006 Assessment of soil quality using soil organic carbon and total nitrogen and microbial properties in tropical agroecosystems Maruf K. A. Adeboye*, Abdullahi Bala, Akim O. Osunde, Anthony O. Uzoma, Ayo J. Odofin, Baba A. Lawal Department of Soil Science, School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria. *Corresponding Author: enilewu@ Received 12 December 2010; revised 6 February 2011; accepted 15 February 2011 ABSTRACT study suggests that the locally irrigated agro- ecosystem soil seems to be of better quality than the other agroecosystem soils. Assessment of soil quality is an invaluable tool in determining the sustainability and environ- mental impact of agricultural ecosystems. The study was conducted to assess the quality of the soils under arable cultivation, locally irri- gated and non-irrigated, forestry plantations of teak (Tectona grandis Lin.) and gmelina (Gme- lina arborea Roxb.), and cashew (Anacardium occidentale Lin.) plantation agro ecosystems using soil organic carbon (SOC), soil total ni- trogen (STN) and soil microbial biomass C (SMBC) and N (SMBN) at Minna in the southern Guinea savanna of Nigeria. Soil samples were collected from soil depths of 0-5 cm and 5-10 cm in all the agro ecosystems and analyzed for physical, chemical and biological properties. All the agro ecosystems had similar loamy soil texture at both depths. The soils have high fer- tility status in terms of available phosphorus and exchangeable calcium, magnesium and po- tassium. The irrigated arable land had signifi- cantly (P 0.05) higher SOC and STN in both soil depths than all the other soils due to greater C inputs into the soil and fertilizer application. The cashew plantation soil had the lowest Keywords: Agroecosystems; Microbial B