Dynamics of selected soil properties under four land uses in Arsamma watershed, Southwestern Ethiopian Highlands

Abstract

Land-use change from natural ecosystem to agriculture is a critical environmental challenge in the highlands of Ethiopia. This study was designed to assess dynamics of selected physico-chemical soil properties under four land-use types. Forty-two soil samples were collected from the top 20 cm depth of forestland, multistory canopy coffee farm, coffee monoculture, and annual cropland. Two-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test were used to analyze the data. Forest soil contained significantly (p < 0.05) higher silt, organic matter, total nitrogen, exchangeable calcium, and exchangeable magnesium content than annual cropland. The pH value in annual cropland was significantly (p < 0.01) lower than in forestland. Decreasing patterns of organic matter, total nitrogen, exchangeable base contents, and cation exchange capacity were observed, sequentially, in soils of forest, multistory canopy coffee, coffee monoculture, and annual crops. The soils were strongly acidic regardless of land uses. Application of integrated soil fertility management to annual cropland, scaling up of multistory canopy coffee farm, and application of organic fertilizers to coffee soil could alleviate the problem of soil fertility deterioration resulting from land-use change from natural ecosystem to agricultural land use.