Fertility/Salinity Assessment of Soil along Tutudawa Main Canal of the Wurno Irrigation Scheme, Sokoto, Prior to September, 2020 Flood

Abstract

This research was carried out to evaluate the fertility and salinity status of the soil and pattern of its variations with depth along Tutudawa main canal of the Wurno Irrigation Scheme. The Wurno irrigation scheme is located in the Sudan Savannah, situated 45km north of Sokoto town. The Irrigation scheme is located on latitude 13^o 20´N and longitude 4^o 55´E, within dry sub-humid Savannah (Ojanuga, 2006). The nature of rainfall in the area is poor in distribution, scanty in quantity and erratic in behavior with its peak in August with average of 704.2.mm per anum. The temperature ranges from a minimum of 17^oC recorded in December/January to 42^oC in April/May (NAERL and FDAE, 2014).Wurno irrigation scheme comprises of a storage reservoir with design capacity of 19,501,200 m³
supplied from Goronyo dam.The reservoir is linked to two main canals, namely; Lugu main canal that passes through Lugu village and Tutudawa main canal that passes through Tutudawa village, a main drain  and a number of secondary canals (WIPMAM, 1994). Four transects were purposively chosen and soil samples were collected from three sampling spots in each transects. The samples were taken at the 0-15cm and 15-30cm depth respectively. Soil fertility and salinity parameters such as pH , Total N, Organic Carbon, available P, CEC, Exchangeable bases, were determined using standard methods. PBS, ESP, EC and SAR were calculated. The findings of the study revealed that Ca²⁺, K⁺ and Na⁺ ions were all high across the sampling locations and depths. Periodic monitoring is proposed as a means of ensuring that proper soil quality for effective plant growth performance is maintained.

Key words: Assessment, Fertility, Salinity, Tutudawa Main canal, Flood