2024/05/01 by Shambel, Adisu, Bekele, Abdissa, Zeleke, Shasho
#Conservation #Land use types #Physicochemical properties #Soil depth
paper · doi:10.20372/afnr.v2i1.1022
Understanding the effects of land use types on soil physicochemical properties is essential for the sustainable utilization of soils. This study evaluated the effects of land use types on selected soil physical and chemical properties. Eighteen (18) composite soil samples were collected from three different land use types (forest, cultivated and grazing lands) under two soil depths (0-20 and 20-40 cm) with three replications. Texturally, sandy clay loam under cultivated and sandy clay under grazing land. The mean bulk density of the soils ranged from 1.02 to 1.14 gcm-3. The maximum pH (6.40), OM (6.05%), total N (0.28%), CEC (19.17cmolckg-1), exchangeable Ca (7.5cmolckg-1), Mg (4.17cmolckg-1), Available P (8.0 mgkg-1) and K (1.39 cmolckg-1) were recorded under the forest land, while the minimum results were conducted under the cultivated and grazing lands. Change of land use types has significant impacts on soil properties, especially extreme grazing and cultivating of land. Therefore, this study recommended that conversion of land use from one land use type to other with proper reclamation is important to enhance and improve soil properties for sustainable crop production.