The Effects of Land Use and Landscape Position on Soil Physicochemical Properties in a Semiarid Watershed, Northern Ethiopia
Table 2
Analysis of variance summary results for selected soil physicochemical properties in different land use types and altitudinal gradients.
Soil variables
Land use types (LU)
Altitudinal gradient (A)
Mean square
df
F-stat
Sig.
Mean square
df
F-stat
Sig.
Mean square
df
F-stat
Sig.
Sand (%)
205.099
3
21.634
0.001
139.051
2
14.667
0.001
9.608
4
1.013
0.424ns
Silt (%)
65.430
3
4.831
0.05
35.147
2
2.595
0.100ns
12.397
4
0.915
0.474ns
Clay (%)
122.918
3
7.845
0.01
47.629
2
3.040
0.070ns
33.913
4
2.165
0.110ns
Soil moisture (%)
50.117
3
9.716
0.001
80.275
2
15.562
0.001
2.314
4
0.449
0.772ns
Bulk density (g cm−3)
0.043
3
18.161
0.001
0.090
2
38.540
0.001
0.007
4
3.071
0.05
Total porosity (%)
60.151
3
18.215
0.001
127.624
2
38.647
0.001
10.212
4
3.092
0.05
pH-water (1 : 2.5)
0.816
3
45.634
0.001
0.217
2
12.125
0.001
0.096
4
5.379
0.01
EC (mS cm−1)
0.104
3
315.022
0.001
0.017
2
51.153
0.001
0.007
4
22.168
0.001
SOM (%)
2.011
3
70.746
0.001
3.151
2
110.818
0.001
1.047
4
36.833
0.001
SOC (%)
0.676
3
70.746
0.001
1.060
2
110.962
0.001
0.352
4
36.843
0.001
TN (%)
0.002
3
5.030
0.009
0.002
2
3.870
0.05
0.008
4
20.694
0.001
C : N
21.780
3
16.283
0.001
16.366
2
12.236
0.001
13.181
4
9.855
0.001
Pav (mg kg−1)
105.143
3
3.892
0.024
265.950
2
9.845
0.01
82.625
4
3.059
0.05
Kexch (cmol(+)kg−1)
0.072
3
1.177
0.343ns
0.029
2
0.482
0.625ns
0.052
4
0.861
0.504ns
,, and indicate significance at < 0.05, < 0.01, and < 0.001, respectively. ns: not significant at < 0.05, df: degree of freedom, SOM : soil organic matter, SOC : soil organic carbon, TN : total nitrogen, C : N: carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, Pav : available phosphorus, Kexch: exchangeable potassium.
