Assessment of status and distribution of available micronutrients in soils under different land uses of savannah North Central Region of Nigeria

Abstract

This study examines the availability of micronutrients under different land uses: natural vegetation, tree plantations (orange and cashew) and arable crops (maize and guinea corn). Available zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) were analysed in one hundred and fifty (150) randomly selected soil samples. Iron at the topsoil and subsoil under tree plantations and natural vegetation was rated marginal, under arable crops it was marginal at topsoil and deficient at subsoil. Available  Mn and Zn at the topsoil and subsoil was  adequate under all the land uses, with the exception of maize which  fell under  marginal  ranking at topsoil. Copper was rated deficient under arable crops and orange, marginal under cashew, while natural vegetation was marginal at subsoil and adequate at topsoil. The results revealed that arable crops unlike tree plantations statistically differed on all occasions when their mean scores were compared with those of the natural vegetation. Copper-enriched inorganic fertilizers should be used by farmers. Monitoring of soil nutrients should be carried out regularly, in order to improve upon sustainable farming.