Abstract

Omofunmi, O.E and A.A. Alli

Soil physical and chemical characteristics of catfish effluent disposal land at fish farm village in Ikorodu district; Lagos State, Nigeria was investigated. The physical and chemical properties investigated include: textural class, bulk density, water holding capacity, porosity, hydraulic conductivity, organic matter, total nitrogen, total phosphorus and potassium. The required physical and chemical properties were measured at various depth ranges from 00cm to 90cm at 30cm intervals and analyzed. Results showed that the soil of the study area belongs to two different textural classes: clay loam and sandy clay loam. The sandy clay loam was dominant with 67% proportion of the prevalent soil textural class in the study area. The means values across the depth 00- 90cm for Bulk density (1.43 ± 0.22) g/cm 3 , Water holding capacity (25.05±0.65) %, Porosity (36.87 ± 10.55) %, Hydraulic conductivity (0.22 ±0.14) cm/hr, Organic carbon (0.66 ± 1.55) mg/kg, Nitrogen (24.30 ± 1.50) g/cm3 , Phosphorus (6.93 ± 0.20) g/cm3 and Potassium (3.40 ± 0.10) g/cm3 were within the recommended critical values of 1.25 – 1.45 g/cm3 , 26.25 – 35.50%, 26.25 – 50.00%, 0.20 – 0.30cm/hr, 5.0 – 7.5, 10 – 12mg/kg, 20 – 30g/cm3 , 6.6 – 18.0g/cm3 and 3 – 6g/cm3 respectively for optimum agricultural production. Hence the soil physical and chemical properties obtainable at fish farm village land are suitable for\ micro irrigation systems (sprinkler and drip) as well as agricultural production.