Grazing and soil deterioration in the Sudano‐Sahelian zone of Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigates the effects of grazing on the soils of the Sudano‐Sahelian ecological zone of Nigeria. Using the Students’ t‐test, the outcome of our analysis reveals that the mean levels of the water holding capacity, organic carbon and available phosphorus are significantly higher in the ungrazed plots than in the grazed plots at P ≤ 0.01. In addition, the levels of organic carbon, available phosphorus and the water‐holding capacity in the grazed plots have deteriorated by 55.1%, 48.3% and 41.6%, respectively, when compared with the levels in a nearby 25‐year old forest reserve used as a control plot.