Effect Of Levels Of Wood Ash On Soil Acidity And Available Phosphorus

ABSTRACT

A study was conducted at the eastern farm of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, to determine the effect of levels of wood ash on soil acidity and available phosphorus. The experiment was laid out as a Randomized Complete Block Design with six treatments and four replicates. The treatment levels were; 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and  10t/ha, respectively. Cowpea was planted as a test crop. The results obtained showed that wood ash has a significant effect on soil properties by increasing organic carbon, organic matter, total exchangeable bases, effective cation exchange capacity, base saturation, but decreased exchangeable acidity. Also pH values increased with increase in the rate of ash application. Rate above 4 t/ha had no significant effect on soil pH. The highest pH values were obtained at two weeks after planting on plots that received 8 t/ha. Similarly, there was no significant effect in available phosphorus from 2 to 10 t/ha. Though there was a reduction in available phosphorus at 10 t/ha, the highest amount of available phosphorus was observed at 8 t/ha in the sixth weeks after planting. There were no significant effect of ash on plant height, number of leaves and stem girth in all the levels of treatments at 2 weeks after planting, but there were significant effects at 4, 6, 8, and 10 weeks after planting. Yield figures could not be presented because the plots were attacked by rodents a few days to the harvest. The damage was much that the data collected were inadequate for statistical analysis.