Assessment of impacts of charcoal production on soil properties in the derived savanna, Oyo State, Nigeria

Type Journal Article - Journal of Soil Science and Environmental Management
Title Assessment of impacts of charcoal production on soil properties in the derived savanna, Oyo State, Nigeria
Author(s)
Volume 2
Issue 5
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2011
Page numbers 142-146
URL http://www.academicjournals.org/journal/JSSEM/article-full-text-pdf/C2DB9091869
Abstract
This study evaluated the impacts of charcoal production on soil properties in the derived savanna zone
of South Western, Nigeria. Ten soil samples were collected randomly at the depth of 0 to10 cm in each
of the charcoal production sites (CPS) and adjacent field sites (AFS) which is the control site. All soil
samples collected were subjected to laboratory analysis for soil pH, particle size composition, available
phosphorus, organic carbon, total nitrogen, exchangeable potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium,
cation exchangeable capacity and base saturation. The mean of each of these soil properties was used
for comparison and t-test was also used to determine the significant difference that exists in each soil
property. The results of the analysis showed that the soils are texturally similar at both the CPS and
AFS sites. The soil pH under CPS is 6.75 while it is 5.96 under AFS. The mean of the available
phosphorous under CPS is 11.21 ppm while it is 2.07 ppm under AFS. The analysis reveals a slight
increase in exchangeable calcium, sodium, magnesium, total nitrogen, organic carbon and base
saturation contents of the soil in CPS while the amount of cation exchange capacity decreases in CPS
with the mean value of 2.32 meq/100 g than the AFS with the mean value of 2.37 me/100 g. It is therefore
recommended among others that there should be awareness to consider the age of trees, species and
biomass before trees are cut down for charcoal production.

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