ASSESSMENT OF NUTRIENT STATUS IN DATE PALM PLANTATION SOILS OF MODIBBO ADAMA UNIVERSITY, YOLA ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA

This research assessed nutrient status, in soil of date palm plantation of Modibbo Adama University, Yola Adamawa State. Parameters evaluated included; data on nutrient status of soils, based on growth performances of the date palm. The plantation was divided into three according to growth variabilities high, medium and low. Fifteen (15) auger points were taken, five (5) in each performance site based on the corresponding variability as observed. Soil samples were collected within same points for physicochemical analysis. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to compare results of nutrient status of soils and to test for significant differences in nutrient concentration of the soils samples, mean separation was done using Least Significant Difference (LSD). The highest value for soil physical parameters in the growth sites were; sand 86.4%; silt 17.8%; clay 22.8%; BD 1.64g/cm3; PD 2.73g/cm3 porosity 46% and WHC was 12.1%. Similarly, the highest value for soil chemical parameters in the growth sites were; pH 7.0, EC 0.60dS/m, OC 1.011%, OM 1.743%, TN 0.174%. AvP 12.637 ppm, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, TEB TEA, ECEC and PBS highest values were; 5.212, 3.160, 0.957, 0.872, 9.186, 3.700,11.688 Cmol/Kg and 82.121% respectively. Analysis of variance for the soil parameters tested at (P ≤ 0.05) level of significance showed no significant differences in all the parameters of soil physical properties. However, Organic carbon, Organic matter and TN vary significantly after the Post-hoc tests across growth performance sites in chemical properties (p ≤ 0.05). The finding of this study revealed that there was no significant difference among the physical properties across the study site leading to the conclusion that soil physical properties may not have been responsible for the observed differences in the growth of the Date Palm in the plantation. A different pattern was however observed in the values of the chemical properties of the plantation where significant differences exist in Organic carbon, Organic matter and total Nitrogen across these sites which may perhaps be responsible for the observed differences in growth of the plants.