Vegetable Farm Types and Hydromorphic Soil Properties in Ojo Area of Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria

Fatai Olakunle Ogundeel, Maria Claire Folami

Department of Geography and Planning, Faculty of Social Sciences, Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria.

DOI: 10.4236/oalib.1100391                

Abstract

Vegetable cultivation is practiced in cities around the world as urban agriculture aimed at meeting the food and vegetable demand of the urban population. However, like every other human activities it has the potential to cause damage to soil health leading to poor productivity and large environmental impacts. Previous studies on the impact of vegetable cultivation on soil nutrients status have focused on the difference in soil properties of vegetable farms and undisturbed lands. This study examined the impacts of vegetable cultivation under different vegetable farm types in Ojo area of Lagos state, Nigeria. Simple random sampling was used to collect soil samples from the vegetable farms (which were categorized using the dominant vegetable crop grown in each farm). The collected soil samples were analyzed for soil properties (soil pH, Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, Calcium, Organic Carbon, Sodium, Manganese, Magnesium, Iron etc.) using standard laboratory procedures. The data collected were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics analysis. The mean and standard deviation was used to show the pattern of distribution as well as Pearson moment correlation to establish the type of association among the soil properties. The results obtained from this analysis revealed that the lettuce farm had the lowest soil pH value at 6.12 while the amaranthus and pumpkin leaf farms had the highest pH value (6.51), organic Carbon, total Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium were lowest in the pumpkin leaf farm (2.014 g/kg, 0.259 g/kg, 0.641 Mg/g and 0.14 Cmol/kg respectively) and highest in the amaranthus farm (6.426 g/kg, 0.649 g/kg, 3.147 Mg/g and 1.23 Cmol/kg respectively), Calcium was lowest in the pumpkin leaf farm (0.25 Cmol/kg) and highest in the spinach farm (1.95 Cmol/kg), Magnesium ranged from 0.31 Cmol/kg in the control to 3.32 Cmol/kg in the spinach farm, Sodium ranged from 0.19 Cmol/kg in the pumpkin leaf farm to 0.41 Cmol/kg in the green onion farm and micronutrients; Manganese, Iron, Copper and Zinc were lowest in the control (3.0 Mg/kg) and highest in the amaranthus farm (137.5 Mg/kg), lowest in the pumpkin leaf (57.2 Mg/kg) and highest in the spinach farm (226.1 Mg/kg), ranged from 2.37 Mg/kg in the control to 4.45 Mg/kg in the spinach farm and ranged from 0.13 Mg/kg in the pumpkin leaf farm to 1.25 Mg/kg in the control respectively. The soil physical and chemical and micronutrient properties as investigated had positive and significant relationship with each other (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05) under all the vegetable farms studied. However, sand of the spinach farm had negative association with silt, clay, saturated hydraulic conductivity and bulk density with (r = -0.607, r = -0.641, r = -0.574 and r = -0.624, P < 0.05) respectively. Magnesium and organic Carbon of the control also had negative association (r = -0.034, P < 0.05). The Amaranthus and Scent leaf farms had the highest concentrations in majority of the soil properties while the pumpkin leaf farm had the lowest concentrations of the soil properties. Therefore, the pumpkin leaf vegetable extracts more soil nutrients from the soil than the other vegetable crops. There is need for adequate soil management, more organic matter application and Nitrogen and Potassium should be added in their fertilization programmes in all the vegetable farms especially the pumpkin leaf farm.

Keywords

Vegetable Cultivation, Urban Agriculture, Soil Nutrient Status, Soil Properties

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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