EFFECT OF RICE HUSK ON BULK DENSITY OF SOIL IN MAUTECH AGRICULTURAL FARM, YOLA, NIGERIA
Soil compaction may occur naturally or as a result of working on wet soil, excessive tillage, excessive rainfall and poor drainage causing reduction in infiltration, aeration, crop root growth and consequently crop yield. Determination of the effect of rice husk on bulk density of compacted soils was studied under laboratory condition. Two sets of soils and Rice Husk mixture at 0 and 2000 g level were compacted from 0, 15, 20 and 25 compaction blows. The results show that bulk density of soils decreased with increased rice husk content even when soil depth and compaction increased. The bulk density at zero compaction was found to increase from 0.681 g/ cm3 to 0.704 g/ cm3 while bulk density at compaction increased from 1.126 g/ cm3 to 1.214g/ cm3. When rice husk was incorporated to the soil, the Bulk Density decreased from 1.065g/ cm3 to 1.006g/ cm3which resulted in high rate of infiltration, aeration, root growth and increase the crop growth, production and higher yield. Statistically, using ANOVA, there was no significant differences between the bulk density of the soil in the study area
Authors : T.S.K. Tya and M. Ndubuisi
Category : Open Access Volume (Issue) : 3(1) Date Uploaded : 25th March 2018