Changes in soil properties influenced by irrigation in an Alfisol of Northern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria

This article analyses the impact of irrigation on soil physical and chemical properties of the soils of the Galma river basin in Nigeria. Two profile pits were sited on irrigated and rain-fed fields respectively. Soil samples were collected from two depths. The soils were prepared and analysed for routine soil physical and chemical properties following a standard procedure. Quantitative data obtained from routine soil physical and chemical analysis were subjected to a T-test. The result of the analysis revealed that all the land use types locations show significant variation for sand, silt, and clay. The sand and silt show a highly significant different (p<0.001) across location compared with clay which shows significant variation (p<0.05). Bulk density, particle density, total porosity, and saturation index did not differ significantly across the land use types. Soils in irrigated fields showed significantly higher organic carbon, total nitrogen, calcium, and CEC but lower pH compared to soils under rainfed land-use type. Soils Under rain-fed land use had a statistically significant higher pH than soils under the irrigated land-use type. In contrast, differences in the distribution of soil available phosphorus, Na, exchangeable acidity and base saturation values among the two land-use types were statistically insignificant