Remineralisation of tropical ferallitic soils using volcanic rock (tephra) powder in the fertilisation of bambili soils, experimented on zea mays, Cameroon

Totap is situated at the North-East of Mount Bambouto, explosive volcanism emplaced strombolian cones with tephra. Tephra is often used as a constituent of cement and for road surfacing. This product is abundant in Cameroon which is not exploited by the agricultural sector as a natural fertiliser. The goal of this experiment was to evaluate the fertilisation potentials of different proportions of tephra (15, 20 and 25%) on the growth of Zea mays. The experiment was carried out in pots and evaluation was done through some soil physico-chemical parameters like pH, cationic exchange capacity (CEC), exchangeable bases and plant growth parameters (number of leaves, height and diameter of girth). It was observed that, .after eight weeks of growth there was a general decrease in plant growth on soil without fertilizer (T0), a slight increase in those with NPK fertiliser (T1) and a progressive increase with increase in the proportion of tephra. The use of NPK and Tephra had a general increase in number of leaves, height of plant and diameter of girth over the control. The general increase of growth parameters was due to a progressive release of elements in the tephra, treatments with 20% tephra presented the best results compared to the others. Tephra powder can be use as a natural fertiliser to ameliorate crop productivity and foster economic growth within Cameroon.