Assessment of Some Soil Health Indicators and Their Distribution Along Salanta River, Kano- Nigeria

Abstract

Soil health is essential for the integrity of terrestrial ecosystems to remain intact and recover from disturbances. The paper aimed at assessing the spatial distribution and the relationship of some soil health indicators. Two square kilometer of irrigated land was delineated within which ten soil samples were collected using point composite sampling from 0 – 15cm depth. The soil samples collected were analyzed for pH, soil enzymes, chromium and lead. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics using Micro soft excel. The results show that all the soil health indicators: SOC, pH, enzymes, Cr and Pb were found to be higher in all the point near the river. The high values of SOC and soil enzymes nearby the river bank is attributed to pH (7.7) values, which reduce the effect of Cr and Pb on soil enzmes activities. The relationship among the soil health indicators revealed that pH is negatively (r = -0.36) correlated with dehydrogenase and significantly correlated with urease (r = 0.57) and phosphatase (r = 0.43) at ? value of 0.05 probability level. The determination of pH, OC and enzymes activities reflect the microbial activities in the soil of the area and thes variables are sensitive biological indicators of heavy metals contamination in soil and could be considered as soil health indicators. Minimum tillage and application of organic fertilizer improves the structural stability of the soil, thereby reducing the solubility and availability of heavy metals in soil and also improve soil quality.