Magnesium Releasinng Potential of soils of Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

A green house experiment was conducted to determine the magnesium releasing potential of soil of Edo State.
Exhaustive cropping technique was used with maize as test crop. Twenty composite surface soil samples collected from pre-classified sites were used for this study. From the study, exchangeable Mg decreased from an initial mean of 1.39 to a mean of 0.26cmol kg-1 soil after four successive croppings. Exchangeable Mg before cropping and the decrease in exchangeable Mg after four successive croppings were positively and significantly correlated with total update with “r” values of 0.937 *** and 0.992***, respectively. The only 4.30% of the total Mg that was taken up by maize plant during four successive croppings conceivably came from non-exchangeable sources. This was too small to meet its requirement. Incipient deficiency symptoms were associated with Mg content or concentration of less than 0.3% in plant; 0.28cmol kg-1 soil of IN NH4 OAc (PH7) extractable Mg or 5% Mg saturation of ECEC.


Nigerian Journal of Soil Science Vol. 17 2007: pp. 30-37