Abstract
The present paper investigated the impacts of land use change on physical and chemical characteristics of soil. A land, originally inhabited by native secondary forest, later converted to pineapple cultivation was selected for collection of representative soil samples from the 0-15 cm depth. A closely forest land was used as the reference. Soil texture, bulk density, aggregate stability, pH, total nitrogen, available soil P, exchangeable K and organic matter (OM) content were determined following standard methods. According to the results, significant variations in OM, soil pH, aggregate stability and available P were observed among forest and cultivated lands. The distribution of particle size revealed a decrease in larger particle size and an increase in smaller particle size following the conversion of natural forest to other land cover. Land use changes from forest to pineapple cultivation resulted in decreased aggregate stability, soil pH and organic matter content. The highest (17.3 mg kg-1) mean available P was recorded in the old pineapple land followed by forest land (15.0 mg kg-1) whilst the lowest in the new pineapple land (12.4 mg kg-1). However the values of bulk density, total nitrogen content and exchangeable K content of forest and cultivated lands were not significantly different (p ≤ 0.05). Based on the results, it can be concluded that regular monitoring of soil properties is essential to maintain soil health, enhance agricultural productivity and sustain agro-ecosystems.
Highlights
Soil is considered to be a key factor that determines crop productivity
Land use changes from forest to pineapple cultivation resulted in decreased aggregate stability, soil pH and organic matter content
We observed significant differences in soil organic matter content between forest land and pineapple lands while, no such differences were observed in bulk density of respective lands
Summary
Soil is considered to be a key factor that determines crop productivity. As the characteristics of soil could vary with the type and origin of soil, it is important to distinguish soil as a substance on which plants are grown. The quality of native soil used in agriculture may change with time (Gu et al 2011; Keith et al 2012; Santorufo et al 2012). Deforestation, cultivation, and introduction of pastures, etc., could result in changing soil’s biological, physical, and chemical properties. Land use pattern and natural processes which influence natural resources including the soil properties are known to be the key drivers of environmental change. A considerable extent of productive lands is reported to be degraded due to poor management of land, which is a major threat to rural livelihood in many developing countries (Braimoh and Vlek 2008)
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