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Response of soil moisture content to sampling depth and canopy types in a tropical climate, Southwest Nigeria
Abstract
Soil moisture plays a very important role on vegetation growth and hydrological cycle in tropical wet and dry climates. Response of soil moisture to sampling depth and canopy type in a tropical wet and dry climate, South-West Nigeria was assessed during 2015 meteorological year. The selected canopy types were Cashew plantation(AnacardiumOccidentale) (7°.43¹N, 3°.85¹E), Teak plantation (Tectonagrandis) (7o .66¹N, 3o .84¹E) and Palm tree plantation (Elaeis guineensis) (7o .51¹N,3o .99¹E) all in the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria. Result showed that the moisture values under the Palm tree canopy obtained from the three methods was significantly ( p ≤ 0.05) higher than moisture content from other canopy types, though soil moisture under Cashew had slightly higher moisture readings than those under Palm canopy sometimes. In terms of sampling depth, soil moisture determined by gravimetric method at 10cm depth ranged from 2.92 to 9.48, then at 20cm ranged from 3.41 to 9.46 while at 30cm, it ranged from 3.77 to 9.57. Soil moisture readings obtained using volumetric method at 10cm ranged from 3.62 to 10.30, then at 20cm ranged from 3.79 to 9.87 while it ranged from 4.42 to 11.73 at 30cm depth. The values of soil moisture using TDR method at 10cm depth ranged from 3.31 to 8.46, then at 20cm, it ranged from 3.14 to 9.03 while at 30cm ranged from 3.43 to 9.79. Conclusively, leaves attached to palm tree perhaps maintained their saturated water content longer than leaves attached to shorter trunk such as cashew and teak trees, hence less moisture uptake by palm tree in contrast to cashew and teak trees.
Keywords: Soil moisture, Teak plantation, Cashew Plantation, and Palm Plantation
