Abstract:
Soil degradation is one of the great issues in highland parts of Ethiopia which needs efforts to
reduce it. The Objective of the study was to assess farmers‘ perception on soil degradation
assessment along slope gradient in cultivated fields and to assess the soil degradation status
along the slope gradient of the cultivated land by taking some important soil chemical and
physical parameters. The study was conducted to assess the soil degradation status of the
cultivated land along the slope gradient and farmers perception on the causes extent and
consequences of soil degradation in Ejersa Lafo District. The aim of this study was to analyze
the effects of soil degradation along the slope gradient in the cultivated fields. For laboratory soil
analysis, 3 randomly selected voluntary farmers‘ farm plots. Soil samples have been collected
(from three holes (0-20cm)on each farm plots (3*3), 9 times and the selected physicochemical
properties of the soil analyzed through
laboratory.The analysis of variance (ANOVA) results showed that the particle size distribution o
f the soil in the study area was significantly affected by Land use and slope
gradient (P≤0.01). Accordingly, the highest percentage of sand content (39.94%) was
observed under the cultivated land and the lowest (31.95%) in study area. The percentage
of the silt fractions was 20, 16, and 10.67% of upper, middle and lower slope respectively.The
clay content of Soil 40.05, 64.05 and 57.39% in upper, middle and lower slope of the land
respectively. On the other hands, BD, pH, OM, SMC,TN, CEC and EC analyzed. The descriptive
data were analyzed through mean, frequency, percentage and finally put in table and charts. For
laboratory soil fertility analysis, the data collected were subjected to Analysis of Variance
(ANOV) using General Liner Model (GLM) procedures in SPSS, paired samples- t test done to
check whether the difference in soil chemical properties under soil bund and control. The
significance might be affected by the treatments and separated using one way ANOVA at 5%
level of significance.
