Effects of Cocoa Husk Powder and Cow Dung on Moisture Content and Infiltration Rate of Sandy Soil

摘要

Moisture retention affects soil quality and hence plant growth. Cocoa Husk Powder (CHP) and Cow dung serves as soil amendment agents. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of Cocoa Husk Powder (CHP) and Cow dung on soil physical properties (i.e., moisture content and soil infiltration rate) at Ho Polytechnic demonstration field. Four beds each were raised for moisture content and infiltration rates, respectively using sandy soils. Equal volumes of water and different quantities of CHPand Cow dung were applied to the beds using Completely Randomized Design (CRD). In all, 12 soil samples each were taken from both CHP and Cow dung treatment beds for analysis of moisture content using a gravimetric method. Double infiltrometer test was used to determine the infiltration rates. The results indicated that, for the CHP soil bed, treatment 1 (no CHP) had mean moisture content of 4.5%, treatment 2 (mixed with 2 kg CHP) had 7.0%, treatment 3 (mixed with 4 kg CHP) had 8.4% and treatment 4 (mixed with 6 kg CHP) had 13% while that of the corresponding cow dung treatments were 4.4, 5.4, 7 and 11%, respectively. The basic infiltration rates recorded were 36, 33 and 21 mm h"1 (with a cumulative infiltration of 58, 52 and 45 mm) for CHP for treatments 2, 3 and 4 while that of cow dung correspondingly were 39, 33 and 27 mm h-1 (with a cumulative infiltration of 69, 61 and 55 mm), respectively. The result shows that the more you applied the cocoa husk powder, the greater the moisture content and less infiltration rate. It is therefore recommended that further studies on effect of CHP on chemical properties of soils with salt problems be ascertained.