African Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 7(31), pp. 4362-4367, 14 August, 2012 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/AJAR DOI: 10.5897/AJAR11.673 ISSN 1991-637X © 2012 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper The nutrient status of organic soil amendments from selected wards of Chivi district, Zimbabwe S. Mavengahama 1 * and F. Mapanda 2 1 Department of Agriculture, Faculty of Science and Agriculture, University of Zululand, Private Bag X1001, KwaDlangezwa, 3886, South Africa. 2 Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering, University of Zimbabwe, P. O. Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe. Accepted 26 March, 2012 The potential of animal manure, leaf litter, anthill soil, ash, and compost to supply nutrients was investigated in samples collected from 16 villages from four wards in Chivi district, Zimbabwe. The objective of the study was to generate a biophysical knowledge base on the nutrient status of soil amendments. A total of 134 samples of amendments were collected from homesteads and analyzed for nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and boron (B). With the exception of Cu, no significant differences (P > 0.05) in selected nutrients were found among the different types of soil amendments. Most of the amendments sampled had medium to low levels of nutrients. It was concluded that most of the soil amendments in the selected villages are of poor nutrient status. It is recommended to find management practices that minimize nutrient losses as well as to supplement the nutrients with inorganic fertilisers. Key words: Soil amendments, nutrients, villages, communal areas. INTRODUCTION The use of organic and inorganic soil amendments, such as animal manure, leaf litter, anthill soil, and mineral fertilizer is a common practice aimed at improving soil productivity in the communal areas of Zimbabwe. Manure from cattle, goats, sheep, and poultry have been widely applied on sandy soils of low inherent fertility in crop production in Zimbabwe (Grant, 1981; Tanner and Mugwira, 1984; Shumba et al., 1989). Kraals are cleared every year or after two years and the manure are spread onto fields before the planting period by broadcasting and ploughing under or dribbling in planting furrows (Mombeshora and Mudhara, 1994; FSRU, 1993; Mavedzenge et al., 1996). Tanner and Mugwira (1984), Mugwira and Mukurumbira (1984), and Murwira and Kirchmann (1993) indicated that proper handling and management of soil amendments, particularly animal manure, can improve crop growth and yield. Their studies *Corresponding author. E-mail: sydmavengahama@yahoo.co.uk. also show that improper handling of manure can produce poor quality manure with high sand content (up to 90%) and low N content. It is thus essential to improve the nutrient supply potential of soil amendments in order to enhance soil fertility and subsequently crop production. Although, a lot of research has been done on the use cattle manure in Zimbabwe, the differences in the nutrient supply potential of other types of animal manure and among various types of soil amendments that include anthill soil and leaf litter, have not been fully investigated. These differences would affect the optimum amounts of each type of amendment that may be needed to achieve a targeted crop yield. The objective of this study was to determine the levels of crop nutrients in organic soil amendments used by farmers to improve soil productivity in Chivi communal areas. MATERIALS AND METHODS Location and description of study area Chivi district is located in Masvingo province, Southern Zimbabwe