The Effects of Land Use and Landscape Position on Soil Physicochemical Properties in a Semiarid Watershed, Northern Ethiopia

Table 5

Results of post hoc multiple comparison (Bonferroni test;  < 0.05) for soil physicochemical properties with a significant difference by land use type and altitudinal gradient.

Soil variables	Land use type	MD ± SE	Altitudinal gradient	MD ± SE
	Significantly contrasted land use types		Significantly contrasted altitudinal gradients
Sand (%)	Barren land and cultivated land	13.30 ± 1.63	Middle and lower	10.21 ± 1.54
	Barren land and grassland	14.28 ± 1.63	Upper and lower	11.07 ± 1.54
	Barren land and plantation forest	12.61 ± 1.78	—	—
Silt (%)	Cultivated land and barren land	7.91 ± 1.94	Lower and upper	5.39 ± 1.84
Clay (%)	Grassland and barren land	11.09 ± 2.09	Lower and middle	6.65 ± 1.98
	Grassland and cultivated land	5.70 ± 1.87	Lower and upper	5.68 ± 1.98
	Plantation forest and barren land	7.60 ± 2.29	—	—
Soil moisture (%)	Cultivated land and barren land	6.17 ± 1..20	Lower and middle	7.82 ± 1.14
	Grassland and barren land	8.20 ± 1.20	Lower and upper	6.77 ± 1.14
	Plantation forest and barren land	5.86 ± 1.31	—	—
Bulk density (g cm^−3)	Barren land and cultivated land	0.16 ± 0.03	Middle and lower	0.20 ± 0.02
	Barren land and grassland	0.23 ± 0.03	Upper and lower	0.24 ± 0.02
	Barren land and plantation forest	0.18 ± 0.03	—	—
	Cultivated land and grassland	0.07 ± 0.02	—	—
Total porosity (%)	Cultivated land and barren land	5.99 ± 0.96	Lower and middle	7.51 ± 0.91
	Grassland and barren land	8.52 ± 0.96	Lower and upper	9.18 ± 0.91
	Grassland and cultivated land	2.53 ± 0.86	—	—
	Plantation forest and barren land	6.89 ± 1.05	—	—
pH-water (1 : 2.5)	Barren land and plantation forest	0.60 ± 0.08	Lower and middle	0.28 ± 0.07
	Cultivated land and plantation forest	0.53 ± 0.07	Upper and middle	0.27 ± 0.05
	Grassland and barren land	0.24 ± 0.07	—	—
	Grassland and cultivated land	0.30 ± 0.06	—	—
	Grassland and plantation forest	0.83 ± 0.07	—	—
Electrical conductivity (mScm^−1)	Cultivated land and barren land	0.04 ± 0.01	Lower and middle	0.13 ± 0.01
	Grassland and barren land	0.27 ± 0.01	Lower and upper	0.13 ± 0.01
	Grassland and cultivated land	0.23 ± 0.01	—	—
	Grassland and plantation forest	0.18 ± 0.01	—	—
	Plantation forest and barren land	0.09 ± 0.01	—	—
	Plantation forest and cultivated land	0.05 ± 0.01	—	—
SOM (%)	Cultivated land and barren land	1.10 ± 0.09	Lower and middle	1.46 ± 0.08
	Grassland and barren land	1.74 ± 0.09	Lower and upper	1.60 ± 0.08
	Grassland and cultivated land	0.64 ± 0.08	—	—
	Grassland and plantation forest	0.86 ± 0.09	—	—
	Plantation forest and barren land	0.87 ± 0.10	—	—
SOC (%)	Cultivated land and barren land	0.64 ± 0.05	Lower and middle	0.84 ± 0.05
	Grassland and barren land	1.01 ± 0.05	Lower and upper	0.93 ± 0.05
	Grassland and cultivated land	0.37 ± 0.05	—	—
	Grassland and plantation forest	0.50 ± 0.05	—	—
	Plantation forest and barren land	0.51 ± 0.06	—	—
TN (%)	Cultivated land and barren land	0.05 ± 0.01	Lower and middle	0.04 ± 0.01
	Grassland and barren land	0.04 ± 0.01	Lower and upper	0.04 ± 0.01
C : N	Cultivated land and barren land	2.01 ± 0.61	Lower and middle	2.03 ± 0.58
	Grassland and barren land	4.75 ± 0.61	Lower and upper	3.59 ± 0.58
	Grassland and cultivated land	2.74 ± 0.55	Middle and upper	1.57 ± 0.47
	Grassland and plantation forest	2.15 ± 0.61	—	—
	Plantation forest and barren land	2.60 ± 0.67	—	—
Pav (mg kg^−1)	Barren land and plantation forest	10.22 ± 3.00	Upper and middle	9.27 ± 2.12

SOM: soil organic matter, SOC: soil organic carbon, TN: total nitrogen, C : N: carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, P_av: available phosphorus, , , and designate significance at  < 0.05, 0.01, and 0.001, respectively, MD: mean difference, SE = standard error.