Soil Properties as Affected by Crop Residue Management Practice at Minna, Niger State, Nigeria

However, the capacity of crop residues to affect the biological, physical and chemical properties of the soil depend on substrate quality (the nature of the crop residues and their inherent mineralogical content), prevailing climatic variables, activity levels of decomposers’ community (Kuruvilla et al., 2014) and the management practices employed in processing and application or utilization of th. [...] The challenges posed by poor soil physical and chemical properties in respect of sustainable crop growth and yields necessitate the application of organic amendments that would improve soil physical and chemical condition for enhanced soil productivity and improve crop growth and yields. [...] The objective of this study was to determine the effect of the method and rate of application of rice husk- residue on selected soil physical and chemical properties. [...] Results and Discussion Soil Physical Properties Results of the effect of method and rate of application of rice husk-residue on soil physical properties (soil bulk density and total porosity) at 0 – 15 and 15 – 30 cm depths during the 2014 and 2015 cropping seasons are presented in Table 1. [...] NS: Not significant 665 FRR Vol 7(53):665-670 Soil Chemical Properties Table 2 shows results of the effect of method and rate of application of rice husk-residue on soil chemical properties (soil organic carbon, available phosphorus, exchangeable calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium) at 0 – 15 and 15 – 30 cm depths during the 2014 and 2015 cropping seasons and average data for the two years.