Abstract

The contents of selected heavy metals and some physical and chemical properties of the soil were determined in sixty surface soils (0 – 30 cm depth), in a five hectare land of the Teaching and Research farm of Federal University Wukari. The soils have a mean pH value of 6.5, which is ideal for most nutrient availability and crop production. The carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus mean values are low (8.42, 0.52 and 4.83 g kg–1, respectively) while potassium (0.29 cmol kg–1) values are high. The calcium and sodium values were medium, while the magnesium value was high. The CEC values were medium (6.66 – 8.89 cmol kg–1). The percentage base saturation ranged from 81.1 – 88.8% which showed that all the values were high. The mean values for Fe, Cu and Zn were high, though completely absent in some locations, while Cr was generally high in most locations. The mean values for Mn, Cd and Pb were generally very low. For successful and profitable crop production, there would be need to supply some of the nutrients that are low or completely absent in some of the locations in the form of either organic or inorganic fertilizers, while Cr has to be monitored in some of the locations so that it will not occur in toxic levels in some locations. The correlation studies showed that Manganese significantly (P <0.05) positively correlated with exchangeable acidity. Copper also significantly (P <0.05) negatively correlated with BS. The others either correlated positively or negatively with the soil properties but not at a significant level.