Evaluation of soil quality identified by local farmers in Mai-Negus catchment, northern Ethiopia

Tesfahunegn, Gebreyesus Brhane; Tamene, Lulseged; Vlek, Paul L. G.

doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2011.04.016

Cited by 53 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In addition, they explained 68 % of the variance in available phosphorus, 84 % in SOM, 76 % in calcium, 65 % in pH, 87 % in clay content, 90 % in TN, 77 % in silt, 83 % in magnesium, 83 % in sand, and 58 % in BD. The high communalities among the soil properties suggest that variability in selected soil properties is well accounted for by the extracted factors (Tesfahunegn et al, 2011). Extractable zinc, extractable manganese, and silt had high positive loadings on PC1 (0.875, 0.857, and 0.838, respectively).…”

Section: Statistical Analyses and Index Developmentmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Step (2) a factor analysis was performed to group all the soil data into statistical factors with PCA as the method of factor extraction (Tesfahunegn et al, 2011). Factors were subjected to varimax rotation with Kaiser normalization in order to generate factor patterns that load highly significant variables into one factor, thereby producing a matrix with a simple structure that is easy to interpret (Ameyan and Ogidiolu, 1989;de Lima et al, 2008;Momtaz et al, 2009).…”

Section: Statistical Analyses and Index Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In principle, stepwise discriminant analysis generates two or more linear combinations of the discriminating variables, often referred to as discriminant functions (Tesfahunegn et al, 2011). Conversely, the discriminant functions can be represented as…”

Section: Statistical Analyses and Index Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unfortunately, when soil degradation reaches an advanced stage, soil quality restoration is difficult (Lal and Cummings, 1979). Therefore, good knowledge of SQ is important for developing appropriate conservation measures (Tesfahunegn et al, 2011). Since soil degradation and soil quality are interlinked through many processes (Lal, 2015), scholars have suggested that soil degradation can be assessed using soil quality assessment strategies (Tesfahunegn, 2014;Pulido et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of a composite soil degradation assessment index for cocoa agroecosystems in southwestern Nigeria

2017

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Abstract. Cocoa agroecosystems are a major land-use type in the tropical rainforest belt of West Africa, reportedly associated with several ecological changes, including soil degradation. This study aims to develop a composite soil degradation assessment index (CSDI) for determining the degradation level of cocoa soils under smallholder agroecosystems of southwestern Nigeria. Plots where natural forests have been converted to cocoa agroecosystems of ages 1-10, 11-40, and 41-80 years, respectively representing young cocoa plantations (YCPs), mature cocoa plantations (MCPs), and senescent cocoa plantations (SCPs), were identified to represent the biological cycle of the cocoa tree. Soil samples were collected at a depth of 0 to 20 cm in each plot and analysed in terms of their physical, chemical, and biological properties. Factor analysis of soil data revealed four major interacting soil degradation processes: decline in soil nutrients, loss of soil organic matter, increase in soil acidity, and the breakdown of soil textural characteristics over time. These processes were represented by eight soil properties (extractable zinc, silt, soil organic matter (SOM), cation exchange capacity (CEC), available phosphorus, total porosity, pH, and clay content). These soil properties were subjected to forward stepwise discriminant analysis (STEPDA), and the result showed that four soil properties (extractable zinc, cation exchange capacity, SOM, and clay content) are the most useful in separating the studied soils into YCP, MCP, and SCP. In this way, we have sufficiently eliminated redundancy in the final selection of soil degradation indicators. Based on these four soil parameters, a CSDI was developed and used to classify selected cocoa soils into three different classes of degradation. The results revealed that 65 % of the selected cocoa farms are moderately degraded, while 18 % have a high degradation status. The numerical value of the CSDI as an objective index of soil degradation under cocoa agroecosystems was statistically validated. The results of this study reveal that soil management should promote activities that help to increase organic matter and reduce Zn deficiency over the cocoa growth cycle. Finally, the newly developed CSDI can provide an early warning of soil degradation processes and help farmers and extension officers to implement rehabilitation practices on degraded cocoa soils.

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Section: Statistical Analyses and Index Developmentmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Statistical Analyses and Index Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Statistical Analyses and Index Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Development of a composite soil degradation assessment index for cocoa agroecosystems in southwestern Nigeria

2017

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“…Smallholder knowledge and assessment of soil quality were found to be highly accurate showing that local knowledge-based assessments can be effective and low-cost, and need to be integrated into research and extension services (Tesfahunegn et al, 2011). Similar studies indicate local ecological knowledge can be used to better understand water, plant types and deforestation (Pagella et al, 2013).…”

Section: Environmental Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 90%

Agricultural intensification in Ethiopia: Review of recent research

Cochrane¹

2014

Afr. J. Agric. Res.

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This review of research presents recent agricultural studies conducted in Ethiopia. After a brief contextualization of the discourse regarding agricultural research globally, material specific to Ethiopia is discussed in themes, synthesizing the types of findings, summarizing the trends and highlighting knowledge gaps. A review of this nature makes diverse research results available and accessible, facilitates knowledge translation and enables researchers to identify areas for future research.

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Assessing Farmers' Knowledge of Weed Species, Crop Type and Soil Management Practices in Relation to Soil Quality Status in Mai‐Negus Catchment, Northern Ethiopia

Tesfahunegn

Tamene²,

Vlek

et al. 2013

Land Degrad Dev

Self Cite

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Soil quality (SQ) assessment from farmers' point of view can be used as a primary indicator for planning sustainable agriculture. Despite this fact, limited information is documented with regard to SQ indicators, for example weed species, crop types and management practices from farmers' knowledge perspectives. The aims of this study are to analyse factors that determine farmers' knowledge of SQ, identify SQ indicators of weed species and crop types across different SQ status and assess soil‐and‐crop management practices that maintain SQ in the Mai‐Negus catchment, northern Ethiopia. Fifty‐two farmer household heads were chosen randomly for questionnaire interview. The results showed significant (p ≤ 0·05) differences in the proportion of respondents who used different crop‐and‐soil management practices. The success of overall prediction by the logistic regression model (model χ2 = 0·84, p < 0·01) and level of model correct predictions (86%) indicated that the explanatory variables have sufficiently explained farmers' knowledge of SQ indicators. Provided that other conditions remained constant, the odds ratio of variables such as farmer experience, access to information, farm location, education, field slope and land tenure have significantly increased the likelihood of farmers for being knowledgeable of SQ indicators. This study also demonstrated that most farmers are knowledgeable in identifying weed species, crop types and management practices across various SQ status, which suggests that such SQ indicators should be used to assess SQ status (degradation severity) while locating fields to be intervened using appropriate management strategies. © 2013 The Authors. Land Degradation & Development published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Evaluation of soil quality identified by local farmers in Mai-Negus catchment, northern Ethiopia

Cited by 53 publications

References 22 publications

Development of a composite soil degradation assessment index for cocoa agroecosystems in southwestern Nigeria

Development of a composite soil degradation assessment index for cocoa agroecosystems in southwestern Nigeria

Agricultural intensification in Ethiopia: Review of recent research

Assessing Farmers' Knowledge of Weed Species, Crop Type and Soil Management Practices in Relation to Soil Quality Status in Mai‐Negus Catchment, Northern Ethiopia

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