Abstract
Crop rotation systems especially dominated by cereals (maize and wheat) are intimately linked to soil properties. The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of crop rotations and conservation practice on selected soil physicochemical properties in northwestern part of Ethiopia. Soil samples (0–20 cm depth) were collected from seven crop rotations with conservation practice and adjacent fields without any conservation measure in three replications. A total of forty-two composite samples were used for analysis by using SAS software. The land rotated with maize-wheat-faba bean exhibited significantly higher mean bulk density (1.06 g/cm3) than the land rotated with other crops (i.e., ranging from 1.02 to 1.04 g/cm3). Mean values of pH (5.34, 4.98, and 5.4), Ex. acidity (2.03, 2.53, and 2.16 cmolc/kg), soil OM (4.53%, 5.12%, and 5.02%), CEC (45.17, 48.03, and 49.47 cmolc/kg), TN (0.23, 0.25, and 0.27%), Av.P (10.21, 7.23, and 7.95 ppm), and C : N ratio (11.18, 11.95, and 10.8) were recorded under rotations with continuous maize, maize-pepper-pepper, and maize-faba bean-pepper, respectively. Mean values of pH (5.34 and 4.97), Av.P (9.51 and 6.53 ppm), CEC (48.3 and 46.87 cmolc/kg), and Ex. acidity (2.5 and 2.85 cmolc/kg) were also recorded under conserved and unconserved farmlands, respectively. Considering the interaction effect of crop rotations by conservation practice, all studied parameters, except bulk density, CEC, and C : N ratio, were significantly (p<0.05) affected. The findings indicate that although continuous maize showed good content of available P and low exchangeable acidity, it will deplete particular nutrients; therefore, maize-pepper-pepper, maize-wheat-faba bean, and maize-faba bean-pepper recorded a slight trend of good values in studied soil physicochemical properties compared to other rotations. A critical study on such type of issue should be carried out over a longer period of time in order to announce detailed understanding about response of soil property to crop rotations to the community.
Highlights
Ethiopia is one of the well-endowed countries in subSaharan Africa in terms of natural resources [1]
Results and Discussion e results obtained from the analysis of variance indicated that crop rotation had significant (p < 0.05) effects on all predetermined parameters
A significant (p < 0.05) effect in the mean value of bulk density was observed under all crop rotations and conservation practice (Table 1)
Summary
Ethiopia is one of the well-endowed countries in subSaharan Africa in terms of natural resources [1]. Natural resource degradation in Ethiopia has been going on for centuries [2]. E major causes of land degradation in Ethiopia are rapid population growth, severe soil loss, deforestation, low vegetative cover and unbalanced crop, and livestock production [3]. Ethiopia is reported to have the highest rates of soil nutrient depletion through soil erosion in sub-Saharan Africa. E rate of soil erosion losses, 130 tons·ha−1·yr−1 for cultivated fields and 35 tons·ha−1 yr−1 average for all land in the highland areas, was estimated to be even one of the highest in Africa [7]. E field level nutrient balances on Nitisols reported from southern Ethiopia A great deal of attention has been paid to soil management practices that promote sustainable soil quality and productivity [10]
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