<p><span style="font-size:14px"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">A survey was conducted to estimate short term heavy metal build up in arable soils amended with animal manure. Soil samples were collected from parts of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture farm amended with animal manure and analyzed for heavy metal concentration and physicochemical properties. Zinc was the most abundant mineral with a mean concentration of 112.34 mg/kg, while Cd had the lowest mean concentration of 2.16 mg/kg. Lead and Chromium had the mean concentrations of 14.90 and 16.96 mg/kg, respectively. Arsenic was, however, not detected. Calcium was the most abundant exchangeable base followed by Mg, K and Na. Exchangeable acidity ranged from 1.60 to 2.40 while available P ranged from 5.40 to 67.81. Physicochemical properties of the samples showed that the soils were loamy with 77-91 % sand, 6.00 -11.9 % clay and 2.89-13.91 % silt. Soil pH in water ranged from 5.16 to 7.19. The application of animal manure affected physicochemical properties and caused heavy metal enrichment of the agricultural soils studied.</span></span></p>