Sustainability Status of a Solarized Alfisol in Sheda Abuja Nigeria

Soil fertility potentials are often affected by land use types and intensity. This makes assessing the current sustainability status of our soil imperative. A study was carried out to assess the influence of soil solarization on the sustainability status of soil in Sheda, Abuja Nigeria. To achieve this, A farmland located on an alfisol was selected marked and solarized for a period of eight (8) weeks using transparent polyethelene sheets (TPS). Soil samples were collected using cup auger at depth of 0 – 30 cm before the solarization and after the solarization period. The samples collected were subjected to laboratory analysis following standard laboratory procedures. The sustainability of the health of the soil was determined. Selected soil physical, hydrological and chemical attributes were computed. The critical level for the soil properties was determined by assigning relative weighting factors to the indicators. The result obtained showed that the cumulative weighted factor for the unsolarized soil was 25, thus placing it as “sustainable with high inputs” class.  For the solarized fields, electrical conductivity, sodium adsorption ratio and exchangeable aluminium posed no limitation to the soil, while soil pH and bulk density posed only a slight limitation. Soil organic matter and texture had moderate limitation and available water holding capacity posed severe limitation. Only field capacity of the soil posed an extreme limitation on the soils. The overall cumulative index was 21, placing the soils in the sustainable class. It was observed that there is a direct relationship between soil health and sustainable land management. It was concluded that soil solarization improved the fertility potential of the soils by boosting soil organic carbon reserve and minimizing nutrient losses, thus enhancing sustainability status of the cultivated soils.