Evaluating selected soils of southern Nigeria for rubber cultivation

Over the last two decades, there is increasing appreciation of the importance of the soil variation and suitability evaluation in land management for specific crops. Most research works in this area however are focused on arable crops. Existing literature on land evaluation for tree crops especially on rubber cultivation can best be described as scanty. This book therefore, identified the soil types and the suitability of the soils of the Coastal Plain Sands derived soils in Southern Nigeria for rubber cultivation. It also explored the application of Geographic Information System (GIS) to soil mapping, examine the influence of rubber cultivation on the soil and traditional knowledge of evaluation of land and soil fertility. The soils were identified and the potentials for continuous and sustainable rubber cultivation evaluated. The practical relevance of the qualitative land evaluation was evaluated by field yield of rubber for two growing seasons. The evaluation should be useful to professionals in the field of soil science, land development or anyone else including farmers and investors in making informed decisions on rubber production