THE EFFECT OF LAND USAGE AND DEPTH ON SOIL QUALITY IN NORTHERN NIGERIA'S SEMI-ARID REGION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33003/jaat.2025.1103.04Keywords:
Land Usage, Soil Quality, Northern NigeriaAbstract
Soil quality is a critical factor in determining agricultural productivity, ecosystem sustainability, and land management efficiency. Soil quality indices evaluation was based on the soil management assessment framework (SMAF) a minimum set of data, which is the smallest set of soil properties or indicators needed to measure soil quality, identifying key soil properties or attribute that are sensitive to change in soil functions established a minimum data set More is better, less is better, Optimum is better When cumulatively put together however, acacia vegetation soil had the highest score index followed by native vegetation soil, then arable land with least in bare land, for the depth, 40-60cm is higher than 0-20cm with least been 20-40cm.when cumulatively put together, the variation order of soil is (acacia > native > 40-60cm depth>0-20cm>20-40cm>arable >bare land) indicate the direction of good quality of soil. Soil quality was assessed using a score scale of 1 to 6; where 1 is rated best and 6 rated worst. Thus; acacia with highest total score was rated best, while bare land with lowest total score rated worst. Acacia scored best and enhance soil quality conditions (optimum soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, potassium, EC, and bulk density), while bare land was rated worst (low organic carbon, low k, moderate phosphorus, moderate nitrogen, low bulk density and electrical conductivity
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