Erodibility Indices and Soil Loss from Different Land uses in Owukpa and Okaba Bioregion of Lower Coal Measures Geological Sediments of the Anambra Basin, Nigeria

Abstract

The study on erodibility indices and soil loss from different land uses in Owukpa and Okaba bioregion of lower coal measures geological sediments of the Anambra Basin, Nigeria was conducted forested, cultivated and residential lands. Thirty-nine (39) representative soil samples were collected at a depth of 0 – 20 cm using auger, labeled and preserved to the laboratory for standard laboratory procedures. The percentage of different grain sizes Moisture content, organic carbon, organic matter content, soil pH, bulk density, particle density, porosity, soil structural index, specific gravity, particle size and permeability were verified. The three land uses were predominantly sandy soil and classified as sandy loam, moderate Permeability, low moisture and clay contents. Dispersion, Erosion, Clay and Modified Clay ratios where high, while Water Stable Aggregates was low. Cultivated land use has the highest value of erodibility factor K (0.12) and predicted soil loss was 18.22 tons/ha/yr. Residential land use value of erodibility factor K was 0.10 and the predicted soil loss of 14.80 Tons/ha /yr while forested land use K was lowest (0.08) with predicted soil loss of 11.84 tons/ha/yr. Using one way ANOVA at p ? 0.05 the different land use patterns did not significantly influence erodibility factor and soil loss in the study area.

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