CHARACTERIZATION OF SOILS IN A SELECTED PENEPLAIN IN FARM SETTLEMENT OGBOMOSHO

The project took place at Oyo state Agricultural Development (Ogbomoso zone), Ogbomoso South, Oyo State, Nigeria. It was carried out to identify and give the description of the soils of the study area (Peneplain) in terms of their morphological properties and to give the characterization of the soils in terms of its physical and chemical properties. Three soil profiles were studied at the site. The pits were dug 30m apart from each other and the samples were collected and labelled from each of the profiles according to the horizon differentiation. The samples were air dried, crushed, and sieved through a 2-mm sieve in preparation for laboratory analysis and they were properly labelled. The color ranges from dull reddish brown to brown. Textural classes increased from sandy loam in the surface of the horizon to sandy clay loam in the epipedon. Sand dominated the fraction with Pedon AG01 recording the highest value of (82%) in the surface horizon. Clay content increases with depth, and silt which has the lowest percentage decreasing with depth except in Pedon AG03. The Soils were slightly acidic in reaction (4.80- 5.70), organic carbon content decreases with increase in soil depth. Exchangeable Ca dominated the exchangeable site in all horizons, followed by exchangeable Mg. The Na content was generally low in all profiles. The variations from the top soils to the sub soils maybe due to accumulation of suspended materials and soluble compounds leached from the top horizons.