Characteristics, Classification and Agricultural Potentials of Soil of Upper Yezat Micro Watershed
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Date
2014-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Agriculture is the key pillar of the economy and ensures food security. The predominantly fragile soils, undulating land form, and lack of awareness among farmers are the existing challenges in maintaining soil fertility. In this regard, intensive studies of the overall soil characteristics were conducted to seek a solution for the impediments. The overall objective of this study is to characterize, classify and determine the agricultural potentials of the soils of the study area. The methodology employed a semi detailed grid survey, soil laboratory analysis and interpolation technique. Accordingly, this study examined the morphological, physical, and chemical characteristics of the soils in upper Yezat micro watershed, northwest of Ethiopia. The survey identified Eutric Cambisols, Eutric Leptosols, Vertic Luvisols and Eutric Vertisols. Cambisols and Luvisols were located on gentle slope land covering about 714.1 and 844.6 ha respectively. Both Eutric Regosols and Leptosols found on steep slope of the upper part of the micro watershed consisted of 603.2 and 717.7 ha respectively. Eutric Vertisols consisted of 1706.4 ha situated in gently to very gently sloping land in the lower part of the study area.
The soil color of most surface soils varies from dark brown to very dark gray, especially the foot slope is much darker than the upslope due the presence of organic matter. The soil texture ranges from clay loam to clay and the soil consistency for most of the surface soils was friable sub angular block structure and low bulk density indicate that the soils have good physical conditions for agricultural practices. The quantity of cation exchange capacity ranged from 25.85 to 45.52 cmol (+) Kg-1 of soil for almost all surface soil horizons. Most of the subsurface soils were moderately to slightly acidic due to slight leaching of soil elements. Available phosphorous content was low to very low in most surface soils except for a very few profiles. The available micronutrients content of the surface soils was in the normal range for Fe, Mn, and Cu although Zn was deficient in the soils. In general, the study shows that the most of the soils show moderately to slightly acidic character due to slightly leaching soil elements. The morphological and the physical characteristics of the soils are good for ease of agricultural work and plant root penetration, and some of the sustainable land management interventions improved the land quality to a certain extent
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Geography and Environmental Studies