Influence of Simulated Erosion on Soil Properties and Maize Yield in the Southern Guinea Savanah Zone of Nigeria I

Abstract

Long term studies were initiated to study topsoil loss and its effects on soil properties and crop yield. This study was conducted during the 2016 through 2019 cropping seasons to assess the influence of artificial topsoil loss on soil properties and grain yield of maize. Three geo- referenced sites within the Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi, Nigeria namely: Site 1, Site_2 and Site_3 were used for the experiment. Erosion levels were established in June 2016 only by the incremental removal of topsoil at various depths.  The study of crop productivity using simulated erosion was conducted using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with desurfaced soil depths of 0cm (control), 5cm, 10cm, 15cm and 20cm as treatments. One profile pit was also dug in each of the three sites for soil characterization and soil type establishment. Data collected on soil physical and chemical properties as well as crop growth parameters and grain yield were subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) using R Statistical Software. Results of the study showed that the soils of the three sites were classified as Kandic Paleustepts for Site_1, Typic Plinthustalfs for Site_2 and Typic Hapluderts for Site_3. We report the effects of topsoil loss on soil characteristics in this paper for two years only.