Soil acidity is one of the chemical soil
degradation problems which affect soil
productivity in the Ethiopian highlands. The
objective of this research was to assess the
status of soil acidity in different land uses in
Fagtalekoma district, Awi Zone in the Amhara
region. The different land use types used for
the study were cultivated land, backyard,
grazing land and natural forest. Composite soil
samples were collected along transects in each
of the land use types and analyzed using
standard laboratory procedures. Results
indicated that cultivated land and grazing land
were strongly acidic (pH<5.5), whereas natural
forest and backyard land uses were moderately
acidic (pH = 5.6-6.0). The strong soil acidity
on cultivated lands may be due to intensive
cultivation without fallow, removal of crop
residues, and in appropriate use of chemical
fertilizers. Soil acidity on grazing land might
be aggravated by overgrazing. Significantly
higher (p<0.01) soil pH, CEC, and higher Ca and
Mg contents were recorded on natural forest
soils as compared to other land uses. On the
other hand, significantly (p<0.05) lower
exchangeable acidity was obtained on backyard
and natural forest as compared to other the two
land uses. Higher organic matter and total
nitrogen contents were observed on the natural
forest, whereas higher available phosphorous and
potassium were recorded on the backyard land
use, which might be attributed to high return of
biomass due to little soil disturbance and high
farmyard manure input. In order to address soil
acidity problem, use of manure and compost
should be encouraged on cultivated lands.
Reducing overgrazing by improving land
management options is necessary to rehabilitate
acidic grazing land soils.
Key words: Improved land management, land
uses, soil acidity.
This is an open access article
published under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Cite this article as:
Endalew BA, Adgo E, Argaw M (2014). Impact of land use types on soil acidity in
the highlands of Ethiopia: The case of Fagetalekoma district. Acad. J. Environ.
Sci. 2(8): 124-132.
