ASSESSMENT OF POTASSIUM FERTILITY STATUS OF SOILS UNDER FARMER-MANAGED AGRICULTURAL PRACTISES IN KUBANNI RIVER BASIN, NIGERIAS.A. MASHI AND M.M. A LHASSANAbstract Evaluation of plant available potassium (K) in soils of 12 farmer-managed plots in the Kubanni River Basin of Nigeria's Savanna region showed that the exchangeable K content ranges in value between 0.19-0.46 Me/100g with a mean of 0.33Me/100g which, going by the Haryana Agricultural University classification of tropical soils of low rainfall areas, is a medium value. At present therefore, the soils have no deficiency problem but it is likely that the problem will be real as agriculture becomes more intensive in the area. It was also found out that K availability in the area is influenced to a very large extent by the organic matter content of the soils. It was thus concluded that future decisions on K fertility maintenance in soils of the area should be framed around the improvement of soil organic matter content rather than on relying on application of inorganic K contained in fertilisers. This is more so because excessive inorganic K application might be injurious for effective crops' performance on the long run.
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