Abstract:
This study was aimed at assessing the status of soil properties under Enset (Enset ventricosum) farm, grazing
and cultivated land from upper, middle and lower slope positions (15-25%, 8-15% and 3-8% slope) in Delta subwatershed of Southwestern Ethiopia. Split block design was employed. A total of 54 soil samples, from 3 slope
positions x 3 land use types (treatments) x 2 depths (0-20 and 20-40cm) x 3 replications, were collected and
used to test for soil chemical properties. For soil physical properties assessment, 27 soil samples were collected
from 0-20cm soil depth by using simple random sampling technique. The result from several soil chemical
parameters revealed that OC, TN, C/N, AvP, CEC, exchangeable bases (K+
, Mg+2, Ca+2 and Na+
), ESP, PBS
were significantly lower (p<0.001) in both depths of cultivated land and upper slope position than in respective
slope positions of the other two land use types. However, average soil EC and pH did not show variation with
both slope positions and land use types. The result also showed that soil physical property parameters such as
soil bulk density, soil moisture and clay content in grazing lands were significantly higher (p<0.001). In contrast,
total porosity and silt content were relatively lower in grazing land. From this finding, it can be concluded that
there needs to be a look into not only land use types but also slope positions in developing land use planning and
soil management strategies in this region.
