Abstract
Egor, A. O., Adedokun, I. O., Uquetan, U. I., Osang, J. E., Isreal-Cookey C, Oba, J. O.
Maintenance and monitoring of soil fertility is a key issue for sustainable lowland soil management. Vital ecosystem processes may be affected by management practices that change the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil. This study used Electrical resistivity (ER) as a nondestructive nor non-invasive method to rapidly determine lowland soil properties in the field. The study explored the correlation between ER and lowland soil properties on twenty plots of rice paddies soil in Obubra. ER measurements were used to determine soil-sampling locations and samples were analyzed in the laboratory for pH, EC, organic matter content (OM), Total Nitrogen (TN), Available phosphorus, Ca, Mg, K, Al3, H, ECEC, BS, Mn, Fe, Sand, Silt, Clay, Bulk density (BD) and texture. Even though the magnitude of correlation was modest, we were able to assess variation in soil properties, having chemically analyzed the sample, which is confirmatory to ER results. The sampling design based on an ER survey allowed us to map basic soil properties with a small number of samples. The result showed that there is a strong positive correlation between Electrical Resistivity and soil properties as R2 = 0.775 and the Correlation between ER and individual soil properties are ECEC (0.69), Ca (0.66), Mg (0.64), clay (0.64), Zn (0.59), Bs (0.53), H (0.4) and Organic Matter (0.46), while Total Nitrogen (TN) (0.25), Available Phosphorus (AP) (0.39), Na (0.30), K (0.26), Al (0.30), Mn (0.30), Cu (0.04), Silt (0.08) and pH (-0.13), Mn (0.30), Cu (0.04), Silt (0.08) and BD (0.17) were weakly correlated with ER. Negative correlation existed between ER and pH (-0.13), EC (-0.06), Fe (-0.12) and sand (0.67). Juxtaposing the Electrical resistivity and statistical results with that of the analyzed samples, it is obvious from the ER sections that the soils are made up of sand, clay, and shale which are sources of the physicochemical parameters obtained from the laboratory analysis.
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