EVALUATION OF THE MACRO AND MICRO NUTRIENT STATUS OF THE EXPERIMENTAL FARM

ABSTRACT

Soil is a major source of micro and macro nutrients needed by plants for growth and development, and plants will absorb nutrients once they are available in the soil. Therefore, evaluating the macro and micro nutrient status of a soil will give knowledge of the concentration of each of the nutrients and their availability status for plant uptake and use. The study aimed at evaluating the macro and micro nutrient status of the experimental farm, of the faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Nigeria. The study was conducted on soil samples collected from three depths in three replications using the completely randomized design, from the experimental farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Nigeria. Some soil physical and chemical properties were determined using standard methods. Some micro nutrients were determined using the DTPA-TEA extraction methods, while the relationship between some soil physical and chemical properties with some micro and macro nutrients was determined using simple linear correlation at P ≤ 0.05. GenStat statistical package was employed for data analysis of which, Duncan multiple ranged test was used to separate means at 5% level of probability.