ABSTRACT
The experiment was conducted to ascertain the macronutrients status of soils under four different land uses in the Ugbowo Campus of the University of Benin, Benin City. The experiment was laid out as a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with land use and depth as factors and was replicated three times.
Twelve different locations were selected, which consist of three each from four different land uses (Arable, Forest, Lawn and Sport). Soil samples were collected at two depths (0-15 cm and 15-30 cm depths) in all four land uses, using a soil auger. Samples were taken to the laboratory and standard procedures were used to analyze the samples. Parameters determined include; pH, TOC, TN, Av.P, K, Ca, Mg, H, Al, Sand, Silt and Clay. The data obtained were subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), while means were separated, using Duncan's New Multiple Range Test.
The results obtained shows that the soils were dominanted by Sand fraction. The 0-15 cm depth belongs to textural class: Sand, while the 15-30 cm depth was Loamy sand. The pH range from moderately acidic to strongly acidic. In the 0-15 cm depth, the TOC was Moderate in the Sport and Arable land, highin Lawn and and Very high in Forest, TN was Moderately low (1.28g/kg) in the Forest and low in the other land uses. Av.P was moderate in all the land uses while exchangeable K was low in Lawn (0.23 cmol/kg) and Forest (0.29 cmol/kg) I Forest.
The TOC, TN, Av.P, K, Ca and Mg all had their most significant (P<0.05) values (26.57 g/kg, 1.283 g/kg, 14.20 mg/kg, 0.287 cmol/kg, 0.753 cmol/kg and 0.31 cmol/kg respectively) in the Forest at the 0-15 cm depth. Similarly, at the 15-30 cm depth, the highest Mg value was recorded in the Sport land use while the the Forest had the highest significant (P<0.05) TOC, TN, Av.P, K and Ca contents (13.433 g/kg, 0.727 g/kg, 6.227 mg/kg, 0.200 cmol/kg and 0.570 cmol/kg respectively). The clay content increased with depth across the land uses while other parameter decreased with depth across the four land uses. The macronutrients were more in the Forest than the other land uses.
