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ABSTRACT
The study was carried out to investigate the Organic carbon availability in soils of an oil palm plantation invaded with different weed types in Ekasa Village, Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. Soil samples were collected at two different depths (0-15cm and 15-30cm) with three replicates each, at four different weeds-invaded areas covering at least one acre each. The weeds investigated are; Spear grass (IC) (Imperata cylindrica), Guinea grass (PM) (Panicum maximum), White weed or goat weed (AC), (Agerantum conyzoides), and Siam weed (Chromolaena odorata) (Siam weed) (CO). The results showed that the soil of the plantation is Loamy sand which is strong acid (Mean pH value is 4.67). The portions with guinea grass and Chromolaena odorata have high organic carbon content at 0-15cm (23.01g/kg and 23.61g/kg respectively) but moderate organic carbon content at 15-30cm (15.23g/kg and 18.22g/kg respectively) while the portions with White weed and Imperata cylindrica have moderate organic carbon contents at both depths (15.49g/kg, 10.91g/kg, and 18.42g/kg, 14.76g/kg respectively). The Organic carbon content in the Siam weed portion has the highest (23.61g/kg) followed by the portion with Panicum maximum (23.01g/kg) at 0-15 cm depth while the portion with Agerantum conyzoides has the lowest (15.49g/kg). The 15-30cm depths also followed the same trend. There is a significant difference between the mean value of Organic carbon content of the portion with Agerantum conyzoides (15.49g/kg) and Chromolaena odorata (23.61g/kg). There were no differences among Agerantum conyzoides, Imperata cylindrica, and Panicum maximum, nitrogen values. Also, there were no differences among Agerantum conyzoides, Imperata cylindrica, and Panicum maximum, organic carbon content values. The results also showed that the portion with Chromolaena odorata (CO) had the highest reserve of organic carbon and nutrients followed by Panicum maximum while Agerantum conyzoides had the lowest.
