Assessment of the fertility status of soils of rice growing areas of Same District, Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania.
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Date
2003
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
This study was conducted to assess the fertility status of the soils of rice growing
areas of Same district. Thirty soil samples were collected from ten different sites
where rice is grown. Following laboratory analysis, three bulk soil samples were
collected from Kisiwani, Ndungu and Kihurio for pot experiments. The laboratory
analysis included determination of total N, organic carbon, P by Bray 1 and Olsen
methods,
and
exchangeable
bases by ammonium
acetate saturation.
The
micronutrients were determined by extracting with 0.005M DTPA at pH 7.3. The
response of rice (Oryza saliva L) variety super SSD5 to N, P and K, as well as to
different levels of Zn were assessed in a glasshouse experiment where plants were
grown for 56 days. The harvested plant samples were analysed for N, P, K, Ca, Mg,
Zn and Fe using the HNO3-H2O2 wet digestion procedure. The results showed that all
the soils in this study were deficient in N. About 53% of the soils had low available
P. All the soils had adequate levels of K, Ca, Mg and Na, with the exception of soils
from Ndungu, which had a low K, supply. Also, most of the soils had low Zn levels,
and only two sites had adequate Zn levels. Soils from Mbugani had low Fe while the
rest had adequate Fe and Cu. The glasshouse experiments showed that application of
N, P and K increased rice dry matter yields in all the soils used. It was further
revealed that Zn supplementation in addition to NPK also increased rice dry matter
yields further. The results also indicated that the uptake of each nutrient applied was
consistent with the dry matter yields increases. It was concluded that most of the soils
under rice cropping in the district were deficient in N, P and Zn and required
fertilisation using these nutrients. Iron was also required in Mbugani soils, whichiii
were deficient of this element. Field experiments are recommended to confirm these
initial findings.
Description
Masters Thesis
Keywords
Fertility, Soil, Rice, Same district, Kilimanjaro