CHEMICAL SOIL FERTILITY DIAGNOSIS FOR COTTON CROPPING IN NORTHERN COTE D'IVOIRE

The work was conducted in the north of Cote d'Ivoire, central pivot cotton production savannah area, to make the diagnosis of soil fertility for cotton cropping. Cotton cropping, the mainstay of the savannah's economy, suffered from low productivity in relation to the soil's chemical properties. Prior cultivation, soils samples were collected at a depth of 0 to 30 cm, collecting 32 simple samples to generate a complete sample. The samples were sent to the soil laboratory to measure the pH unities, CEC, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, iron, zinc, copper and manganese contents. In order to facilitate the interpretation of analysis results, the nutrients critical level recommended for optimum production of cotton were used. Results showed that soils had pH ranging from 4.4 to 6.4. On the other hand, the need to add nitrogen, magnesium and phosphorus to the soils and to augment the low carbon, calcium and potassium content. There is the need to search for fertilizer formulations with nitrogen, magnesium phosphorus and calcium for the Cote d'Ivoire cotton belt.