Estimation of soil water and the physical conditions of soils under different management practices on acid soils of Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria

The study was carried out in Akwa Ibom State University, to estimate soil water and physical conditions of soil under different management practices on acid soils (coastal plain sands). The management practices were three land use types (fallow plot, grassland and cultivated). Soil and undistributed core samples were collected in three locations in each of the three land use types, bulked for physical and chemical analyses. Soil physical properties (total silt, silt, clay, bulk density, saturated hydraulic conductivity, and total porosity), chemical properties (organic matter, available phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, exchangeable acidity, effective cation exchange capacity, base saturation) and soil water characteristics were calculated. The data generated were fitted into 5×3 factorial experiment, Randomized Complete Block Design. The data were subjected into descriptive statistics and land uses were evaluated using Pearson Correlation analysis. For physical properties, the result revealed that sand was the dominant particle size fraction for all land management practices followed by clay and then silt. For chemical properties, the results revealed that base saturation recorded highest mean value at Grassland plot (49.86) and lowest at fallow plot (48.82). For soil water characteristics, Gravimetric Moisture Content (GMC) had highest mean value at cultivated plot (147.59) and lowest at fallow plot (86.19) respectively. The result of management practices shows that there were some relationships between some soil properties and soil water characteristics. Field water capacity correlated positively with permanent wilting point (1.000), correlation result also revealed that total sand correlated negatively with silt (-0.955) and organic matter (-0.777). The knowledge of management of soil water will guide on the proper management practice of soil water for effective productivity.