Effect of Land Use on Soil Physical and Hydrological Properties on Sandstones Parent material in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Abstract

Knowledge of soil physical and hydrological properties is used by soil scien- tists, agronomists, hydrologists, irrigation engineers and environmental scientists for developing best management practices for efficient and economical manage- ment of soil and water for optimum crop production and designing liquid waste disposal systems. A study was conducted on the sandstone parent material in northern Akwa Ibom State to evaluate the effects of forest (FO), fallow (FA), and cultivated (CU) land use types on soil physical and hydrological properties. The effects of the three land use practices on soil properties were generally, sta- tistically non-significant; however, there were remarkable differences among the land uses. It was observed that bulk density (BD), water stable aggregates (WSA), soil organic carbon (SOC), saturated water content (SWC), field capaci- ty water content (FC), and sorptivity (S) were higher in CU than in FO and FA, indicating that forest soils may not always have improved soil physical and hy- drological properties than cultivated soil. However, since the soils are coarse- textured (with low clay content), conservation tillage involving the application of plant materials on the surface or ploughed into the soil and occasional fallow- ing to replenish the organic matter content, are needed to bind the primary parti- cles, stabilize soil structure, and improve water intake and storage, important indices for the optimum edaphological functions of the soils in the study area.