Influence of soil erosion and conservation practices on soil physical properties in Ginaberet, Ethiopia

Abstract

Soil erosion is one of the major factors leading to land degradation that affect the sustainability of agricultural production in Ethiopia. It resulted in severe soil fertility and agricultural production decline. In the past, it was time and financial resource consuming to predict soil erosion. At present, it is possible to use erosion-predicting models RUSLE cheaply and rapidly to interpret the soil erosion process at watershed level. Ginaberet watershed is one of the severely eroded areas in Ethiopia. The purpose of the study was to assess soil erosion and conservation practices on soil physical properties. Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) under ArcGIS environment was used to predict the spatial soil loss rate. Maps of the five parameters in RUSLE, i.e., rainfall erosivity (R), soil erodibility (K), Land use/cover (C), topography (LS) and conservation practices (P) were overlaid. Based on the RUSLE analysis, the mean annual soil loss potential of the conserved area was 25.59tons/ha/ yr and the non-conserved area was 30.92tons/ha/yr.