Assessment of Relationship Between Physicochemical Conditions of Arable Land and Prevalence of Rickets Disease in Chikun Local Government Area, Kaduna State, Nigeria
Assessment of Relationship Between Physicochemical Conditions of Arable Land and Prevalence of Rickets Disease in Chikun Local Government Area, Kaduna State, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
This work is an assessment of the physicochemical conditions of arable land and prevalence of rickets disease.
The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between the physicochemical conditions of arable land and prevalence of rickets in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria.
The set objectives were: to determine and compare some key physicochemical properties of arable land upland and Fadama (lowland) soils between rickets infected areas and non-rickets infected area.
Determine the level of calcium in the selected plant residues of the study area; and to establish the extent of dependency of calcium in the measured soil physicochemical properties.
30 soil samples were collected across the three communities of the study area during the dry season. Plant residues of maize, sorghum and rice were collected from the study areas of Kafari, Kaso Sarki and Tsohon Kaso.
The samples were analysed in the laboratories of Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR) Samaru, Zaria and Multiuser Student Research Laboratory (MUSRL), Department of Chemistry, ABU, Zaria.
The soils of the study area range from moderately acidic to neutral as such leaching is prevalent in the study area. The calcium, Ca content varied between 1.52 to 4.56cmol/kg-1 as shown by the analysis of variance.
The Magnesium, Mg content ranges from 0.77cmol/kg-1 to 2.3cmol/kg-1 and are prone to leaching though they seem moderate at the time of this research.
The Potassium, K contents of the communities’ ranges from 0.10 to 0.24cmol/kg-1. The soils are low in K, Ca and Mg but it does not seem that they are responsible for calcium deficient rickets.
Due to inadequate comparable reference values, it was not possible to link the physicochemical properties of soils in the study area to calcium deficient rickets.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION .. i
CERTIFICATION ….. iv
DEDICATION…….. v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT………… vi
ABSTRACT…….. vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS. viii
LIST OF FIGURES ……. xii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to The Study………. 1
1.2 Statement of Research Problem ….. 4
1.3 Aim and Objectives of Study …. 8
1.4 Hypothesis…….. 8
1.5 Scope of the Study…. 8
1.6 Justification of Study… 9
CHAPTER TWO: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Conceptual Framework … 10
2.2 Literature Review……. 12
2.3 Prevalence of Rickets Around The World….15
2.4.1 Roles Of minerals, Vitamins To human health . 17
2.4.1 Classification Of rickets diseases……. 19
2.4.2 Nutritional and hereditary rickets……… 20
2.4.2.1 Nutrition rickets…………. 21
2.5 Clinical Characteristics of Rickets…… 23
2.6 Sustainable Land Management and The Tropical Smallholders….. 24
2.7 Soil Fertility and Sustainable Agriculture…….. 26
2.8 Soil Calcium and Organic Matter as an Indicator of Sustainable Agriculture……………….. 28
2.9 Implication of Tropical Land Use Intensification for Land Degradation and Food Security and Health …. 33
CHAPTER THREE: STUDY AREA AND METHODOLOGY
3.1 Study Area…….. 35
3.1.1 Location……… 35
3.1.2 Climate…… 36
3.1.3 Relief and drainage…… 37
3.1.4 Soils and vegetation.. 38
3.1.5 Population and socioeconomic activities ….. 38
3.2 Materials and Methodology … 39
3.2.1 Reconnaissance survey……… 39
3.2.2 Types of data ………. 39
3.2.3 Sources of data……….. 40
3.2.4 Detailed fieldwork ……. 40
3.2.5 Soil and crop sampling…….. 40
3.2.6 Laboratory analysis of soil and plant samples .. 41
3.2.7 Techniques of data analysis…. 41
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Introduction …… 43
4.2 Status and Variability of Soil Properties…. 45
4.2.1 Texture….. 47
4.2.2 Organic carbon, nitrogen and available phosphorus 49
4.2.3 Exchangeable cations …….. 51
4.2.4 pH and CEC….. 53
4.2.5 Exchangeable acidity…54
4.3 Relationship Between Ca and other Soil Properties… 55
4.3.1 Organic carbon, nitrogen and available phosphorus……. 55
4.3.2 Exchangeable cations of K and Mg……… 55
4.3.3 pH and CEC ………… 55
4.3.4 Exchangeable acidity……… 56
4.4 Summary of Variation of Ca and Relation to Incidence of Rickets……64
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary of The Study ….. 66
5.2. Conclusion……… 68
5.3. Recommendation…………… 69
INTRODUCTION
Environmental challenges such as climate change, land degradation, deforestation, desertification, erosion, etc, are consequences of human exploration of the environmental resources (Rekacevicz, 2005, 2008).
Historically, human activities have continually altered the landscape with attendant negative effects on land, soil and human health.
Plato was credited to have written that the hills of Attica in Greece were “skeleton” of their selves because of deforestation at the height of the ancient Greek civilization (Botkin, Caswell, Estes and Orio, 1989).
Deforestation was also recorded near East and the Roman Empire before the modern era (Perklin, 1989). However, the rate and consequences of such anthropogenic activities differ from place to place.
Of the environmental resources, soil is perhaps the most susceptible to abuse. This is mainly because of its multifunctionality.
Soil is not only the basis for practically all of human food and livestock feed, and substantial basis for fibre and fuel, but also forms the spatial dimension for the development of human settlements.
It provides raw materials, including water, minerals and construction materials. It forms an essential part of the landscape; it conserves the remains of our past and is itself a relevant part of our cultural heritage.
Within apparently uniform geographic area, several major soil types may be identifiable; each with potential to supports a different range of functions and has a different vulnerability to the various pressures.
Soil is however a limited resource, and unlike air and water, damage to it is not easily recoverable. While limited remediation of some functions can be made, 2 it is not renewable within the time span needed for its regeneration.
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