ABSTRACT
Fertility capability classification was carried out on a 2.14 hectare land in the University of Benin,
Edo State to assess the native fertility status of the soils. Different soil types were identified through soil survey procedures that produced two mapping units in the site. Each mapping unit was represented by a modal class profile, which was sunk, described, sampled and analyzed using standard laboratory methods. The results revealed that the study area had a sandy topsoil (0 - 20cm) with sand fraction of particle size ranging from 710.00 – 863.00 g/kg, silt ranged from 7.00 –23.00 g/kg and clay had values ranging from 115.00 – 255.00 g/kg. The nutrient reserve was low as expressed by low potassium values which ranged from 0.09 - 0.45 cmol/kg and low O.C and O.M values (1.00 - 7.40 g/kg and 1.70 - 12.70 g/kg respectively). The mean values for sand fraction in the soils are 794.6 g/kg and 812.60 g/kg for pedon 1 and pedon 2 respectively, for silt; 13.4 and 14.00 g/kg for pedon 1 and pedon 2 respectively and clay 192 and 181.2 g/kg for pedon 1 and 2 respectively. The CV of pH for pedon 1 was 0.93 with a ranking of low variability as well as it's sand fraction which had CV value of 6.51. In pedon 2, the pH, Al, base saturation and Sand fraction had CV values of 7.10%, 25%, 57.71%, 7.64% with CV rankings LV, MV, HV and LV respectively. The result of fertility capability classification (FCC) showed that mapping units 1 and 2 were both classified as SLa-Em. This indicates that the soils in the study area are not very fertile and requires application of soil amendments including organic manure, mulching, etc. Biochar, pH adjustments, fertilizer management, mulching etc would help to prevent high leaching rate of nutrients prevalent in the area, and composting, application of green manure and biofertilizers will help to improve the fertility of the soil.
