Effects of land use and slope position on selected soil physicochemical properties in Tekorsh Sub-Watershed, East Gojjam Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract In the Tekorsh Sub-Watershed, East Gojjam Zone, Ethiopia, researchers investigated the impact of land use patterns and slope position on selected soil physico-chemical parameters. The study area was arbitrarily divided into three slope positions (higher, middle, and lower), two land uses types (grazing and cultivated land), and two soil depths (0–20 and 20–40 cm) with three replications, based on the in situ field survey. For laboratory analysis, a total of 36 composite samples were obtained. Sand, clay, and silt fraction were highly significantly (P ≤ 0.05) affected by the interaction effect of the three factors. Clay and clay loam were the textural classes of the soil in the study area. The interaction effects of the three factors were highly significant (P ≤ 0.001) affected bulk density (D b), total porosity (TP), organic carbon (OC), available phosphorus (AP), exchangeable (Mg2+, Ca2+, and acidity), cation exchange capacity (CEC), and micronutrients (Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn). The soils were medium to high (1.22–1.44 g/cm3) in D b, very high (45.66–63.13%) in TP, medium to high (15.72–19.56% v/v) in available water holding capacity, low to medium (1.37–2.91%) in OC, very low (1.65–7.68 mg/kg) in AP, high (4.62–5.36 cmol(+)/kg) in exchangeable Mg2+, very high in CEC (43.60–51.06 cmol(+)/kg), Fe (25.20–52.91 mg/kg), Mn (37.29–105.55 mg/kg), Cu (4.04–7.87 kg/kg), and Zn (0.83 2.53 kg/kg). In general, it was discovered that the majority of the assessed soil properties were better in grazing land than in soils utilized for cultivated land uses, and that the lower slope position was preferable to the upper and middle ones.