Influence of Soil Bulk Density and Porosity on Soil Hydraulic Conductivities for Selected Land Management Practice in North-Central Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the variation of hydraulic conductivities of soil with bulk density and porosity on different areas, which include the forestland (teak and Melina plantation), grass, maize, beans, and yam cultivated areas using the constant head method. Results obtained from the different areas of the study locations serve as knowledge of the variability of soil that can assist in defining the best strategies for ustainable soil management through the provision of vital information for estimating soil susceptibility to erosion, hydrological modelling and efficient planning of irrigation projects. Hydraulic conductivity is one of the most important parameters for flow and transport-related phenomena in soil and a criterion for measuring soil ability to transfer water. The measurement is at different depths of 0-15 cm, 15-25 cm, 25-50 cm and 50-75cm. The results obtained had a statistical significance level of 0.05. The soil in forest zone (Teak and Gmalina plantations) had significantly high bulk density as 1.75 gcm-3 and 1.70 gcm-3 respectively at depth 50-75 cm compared to the low bulk density in grass, maize, beans, yam cultivated land as 1.50 gcm-3, 1.48 gcm-3, 1.52 gcm-3, and 1.50 gcm-3 respectively at depth 50-75 cm. However, soil hydraulic conductivity was significantly high in the grass area at the surface with 2.88 cmh-1. It is therefore concluded that the study area had different saturated hydraulic conductivity based on the difference in the textural difference of the area.