Canadian Journal of Pure & Applied Sciences

Abstract: The influence of three different aggregates of baobab stands on soil was investigated at Doba in a semi-arid area of northern Ghana with the aim of examining the different basal areas of the trees on some soil physico-chemical properties. A purposive sampling technique was used to select the baobab trees in natural stands categorized into highlyclumped, moderately-clumped and isolated stands and each stand type replicated three times. Each stand type was located within 20 m x 20 m of land with the clumped trees forming closed canopies. Soil samples were randomly collected from two depths (0-10 and 10-20 cm) under the canopies and outside the canopies of the baobab stands using auger and bulked on local site basis. Soil samples were air-dried, ground and sieved to pass through a 2-mm sieve and some physico-chemical properties determined using standard laboratory methods. The results indicated that the physical parameters especially, bulk density and gravimetric moisture content were similar under the three baobab stands whilst some chemical properties showed variations. The bulk densities of soils under the isolated, moderately-clumped and the highly-clumped stands were 1.76 ± 0.03, 1.68 ± 0.06 and 1.70 ± 0.01 g m-3, respectively. The organic carbon, total nitrogen and exchangeable potassium contents of the soils under the three baobab canopies were higher than those of the soils of the nearby site. The study concludes that the baobab trees have improved the chemical properties of soils under their canopies.