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Impacts of land use and management methods on soil quality dynamics in central highlands of Ethiopia

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Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Authors:
Mahammed Endrias at Ambo University
Mahammed Endrias
Mohammed Assen at Addis Ababa University
Mohammed Assen
Asmamaw Legass Bahir at Addis Ababa University
Asmamaw Legass Bahir
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Abstract and Figures

Land degradation often results in poor soil quality in many parts of Ethiopia, including the study area. To address this issue and promote sustainable land management practices, various land use and management methods (LUMMs) have been implemented. However, little information is available regarding how these management practices influence overall soil quality dynamics of the study area. This study aimed at evaluating soil quality dynamics in the Urago micro-watershed, central highlands of Ethiopia, under major LUMMs: barren land (BL), grassland (GL), established farm boundary (EFB), restored degraded land (RDL), and stone-supported soil bund (SSB). Forty-five disturbed and fifteen undisturbed soil samples were collected from the ploughed soil layer (0–20 cm) of each LUMM and analysed for selected physicochemical properties to be used as indicators of soil quality. Principal component analysis and multiple correlation were used to select the minimum data set (MDS) to evaluate the overall soil quality index (SQI). The MDS included SOC, clay content, exchangeable Mg²⁺, and available P, which could replace other indicators for assessing the overall soil quality dynamics of the study watershed. The result showed notable variations in particle-size fractions, soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), available P (av. P), and exchangeable Na⁺, K⁺, and Mg²⁺ levels among the LUMMs. RDL had higher sand and silt contents than SSB, whereas SSB had higher clay content compared to RDL, GL, and BL. GL, RDL, and EFB showed significantly higher levels of SOC, TN, and av. P, respectively, compared to other LUMMs. The obtained SQI showed that GL had the highest score (0.847), followed by SSB (0.703), RDL (0.701), EFB (0.644), and BL (0.628). This underscores the significance of stone-supported soil bund and restored degraded land as an efficient management method to enhance soil quality and agro-ecosystem through conserving soil and encouraging sustainable farming practices.
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Vol.: (0123456789)
Environ Monit Assess (2024) 196:872
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-024-13003-4
RESEARCH
Impacts ofland use andmanagement methods onsoil
quality dynamics incentral highlands ofEthiopia
MahammedEndrias · MohammedAssen·
AsmamawLegass
Received: 3 June 2024 / Accepted: 15 August 2024 / Published online: 31 August 2024
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024
Abstract Land degradation often results in poor
soil quality in many parts of Ethiopia, including the
study area. To address this issue and promote sus-
tainable land management practices, various land
use and management methods (LUMMs) have been
implemented. However, little information is available
regarding how these management practices influence
overall soil quality dynamics of the study area. This
study aimed at evaluating soil quality dynamics in the
Urago micro-watershed, central highlands of Ethio-
pia, under major LUMMs: barren land (BL), grass-
land (GL), established farm boundary (EFB), restored
degraded land (RDL), and stone-supported soil bund
(SSB). Forty-five disturbed and fifteen undisturbed
soil samples were collected from the ploughed soil
layer (0–20 cm) of each LUMM and analysed for
selected physicochemical properties to be used as
indicators of soil quality. Principal component anal-
ysis and multiple correlation were used to select the
minimum data set (MDS) to evaluate the overall soil
quality index (SQI). The MDS included SOC, clay
content, exchangeable Mg2+, and available P, which
could replace other indicators for assessing the over-
all soil quality dynamics of the study watershed. The
result showed notable variations in particle-size frac-
tions, soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN),
available P (av. P), and exchangeable Na+, K+, and
Mg2+ levels among the LUMMs. RDL had higher
sand and silt contents than SSB, whereas SSB had
higher clay content compared to RDL, GL, and BL.
GL, RDL, and EFB showed significantly higher lev-
els of SOC, TN, and av. P, respectively, compared
to other LUMMs. The obtained SQI showed that
GL had the highest score (0.847), followed by SSB
(0.703), RDL (0.701), EFB (0.644), and BL (0.628).
This underscores the significance of stone-supported
soil bund and restored degraded land as an efficient
management method to enhance soil quality and
agro-ecosystem through conserving soil and encour-
aging sustainable farming practices.
Keywords Land use· Land management·
Minimum data set· Soil properties· Soil quality
index· Principal component analysis
M.Endrias(*)· M.Assen· A.Legass
Department ofGeography andEnvironmental Studies,
College ofSocial Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P.O.
Box: 150249, AddisAbaba, Ethiopia
e-mail: mahammede766@gmail.com
M. Assen
e-mail: Mohammed.Assen@aau.edu.et
A. Legass
e-mail: asmamaw.legass@aau.edu.et
M.Endrias
Department ofNatural Resources Management, College
ofAgriculture andVeterinary Science, Ambo University,
P.O. Box: 19, Ambo, Ethiopia
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... P), cation exchange capacity (CEC), Ca +2 , Mg +2 , sand and clay fractions, bulk density (BD), and total porosity. The selection aligns with previous studies that highlights the relevance of these indicators a for evaluating land use changes and management impacts (Andrews et al., 2004;Nabiollahi et al., 2017;Li et al., 2018;Endrias et al., 2024). ...
... In contrast, bund-supported cultivated lands (BCL) showed significantly higher clay content, attributed to sediment-trapping effects of conservation practices. Consistent with these findings, Endrias et al. (2024) reported high clay and low sand content in stone-faced bunds in Ethiopia's central highlands, while Retta et al. (2022) observed similar patterns in the northwestern highlands. The higher clay in agroforestry (AF) systems further highlight the benefits of sustainable land-use practices that integrate vegetative cover and perennial crops, corroborated the findings of Haile et al. (2022). ...
... P changes are based on observed mean value. for enhanced root-ability (Haile et al., 2022;Endrias et al., 2024). PC-2 explained 23% of the variance with high loadings for total nitrogen (TN, 0.967) and soil organic carbon (SOC, 0.959). ...
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