Physical and chemical assessment of charcoalized soil on the field performance of maize (Zea mays)

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of charcoalized soil on maize and cowpea which was conducted in the Green House of the Science Laboratory Technology in The Oke-Ogun Polytechnic. The treated seeds of maize was planted in plastic containers containing 4.2g of charcoalized soil in the Green House. The result obtained showed that sample E with manure had the highest stem height (40.69) while sample E with manure has the lowest value (8.97). It further revealed that the leaf length ranged from 60.14 to 24.52, Sample E with manure has 60.14 while sample B without manure had the 24.52 which is the lowest leaf length among the samples. Number of leaves ranged from 9.04 to 5.42mm, sample E with manure has the highest values while sample A without manure had was the lowest value. It revealed that there was no significance difference in cadmium and cobalt contents. It further reveled that Sodium ranged from 0.69 to 0.007, Sample B with manure having the highest sodium contents while Sample B without manure having the lowest sodium contents. Calcium ranged from 19.0 to 0.007, Sample B without manure having the highest calcium contents while sample E without manure having the lowest calcium contents among the samples. However, the efficiency of biomass conversion into charcoal was important in conjunction with a newly proposed opportunity to use charcoal as a soil conditioner that improves soil quality on very acid and highly weathered soils. It is hereby recommended that in other to improved nutrient contents, particularly in C+, resulted in a significant cowpea yield increase and further field-testing of charcoalized soil should be continued for three or more growing seasons to see the trends in yield, so as to ascertain the long-term effects of charcoal production on the fertility of tropical soils.