ASSESSMENT OF SOIL PROPERTIES UNDER TEAK PLANTATATION IN ABIA - BADAGRY, LAGOS, NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper investigated whether the Teakplantation established a year ago
by Lagos State Government Ministry of Agric and Co-operative at Abia-Badagry
meet the soil and environmental requirement as obtainable in countries where Teak
grows naturally. Also the study will also establish whether the establishment of
Teak tree has changed the soil properties. Sampling design for this study was
based on, the need to spread sample sites objectively over the study area. The
entire plantation is 2.5ha and five soil samples were collected from the plantation
using soil auger. From each of thefive (5) holes dug, soil samples were randomly
collected from two sampling depths 0 - 15 em and 15-30cm, respectively. Soil
samples were air-dried, sieved, 'and analyzed in the laboratory using standard
techniques. The result of the soil analysis show that PH, EC, TOM, TOC, TN, Av.K,
Av.P and Bulk Density ranges between,5.36-5.86,38.00-156.00,1.06-2.41,0.86-
1.92,0.01-0.03,0.03-0.03,0.02-0.02 and 1.31-1.36 respectively. Among the
examined variables,Ec has the highest mean (61.00) followed by pH (5.72) while
TN/Av.P remained the least value (0.02). Also, EC recorded the highest Standard
Deviation (46.73).this was followed by TOM (0.52) while Av.K/Av. Based on the
empirical data and the analysis carried out on the Teak plantation and the site
characteristics tofind out the suitability or otherwise of the site for maximum Teak
yield in the country, it was found that the site characteristics, especially, soil
properties are similar to those'of places where Teak grows naturally. Therefore it
is recommended to Lagos State Ministry of Agric and Cooperative to increase the
plantation size.