Effects of Some Inorganic Fertilizers on Soil Properties and Leaf Nutrient Contents of Oil Palm at NIFOR Main Station

Background and Objective: The uptake of chemical nutrients by oil palm for bunch production is influenced by physical properties such as bulk density, texture and moisture content of the soils and some climatic variables like rainfall, temperature and solar radiation. The objective was to examine the influence of these properties and some climatic variables on the weight and number of harvested bunches. Materials and Methods: The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and consisted of soil sampling using AfSIS protocol and cores of known volume. Frond leaf 17 was also sampled while climatic variables were obtained from the Statistics Division of the Nigerian Institute for oil palm. Research data generated were subjected to One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) using Genstat statistical software at a 5% level of probability. Results: The except for soil pH and moisture content, the applied fertilizers had no direct effects on soil chemical properties. Person’s correlation analysis showed a relationship between leaf nitrogen and solar radiation; bunch weight and number of harvested bunches as well as bunch organic matter content of the soils. Conclusion: Though the applied inorganic fertilizers had no direct effects on soil chemical properties, they however improved soil moisture content and uptake of nitrogen as revealed by leaf total N.