Assessing soil quality under different land cover types within shifting agriculture in South Cameroon

cg.authorship.typesCGIAR and developing country instituteen
cg.contributor.affiliationUniversity of Marouaen
cg.contributor.affiliationUniversité de Yaoundé Ien
cg.contributor.affiliationInstitut de Recherche Agricole pour le Développement, Cameroonen
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Institute of Tropical Agricultureen
cg.coverage.countryNigeria
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2NG
cg.coverage.regionAfrica
cg.coverage.regionWestern Africa
cg.howPublishedFormally Publisheden
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2015.01.007en
cg.isijournalISI Journalen
cg.issn0167-1987en
cg.journalSoil and Tillage Researchen
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen
cg.subject.iitaSOIL FERILITYen
cg.subject.iitaFARMING SYSTEMSen
cg.volume150en
dc.contributor.authorNgo-Mbogba, M.en
dc.contributor.authorYemefack, Martinen
dc.contributor.authorNyeck, B.en
dc.date.accessioned2016-05-25T11:59:58Zen
dc.date.available2016-05-25T11:59:58Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/74467
dc.titleAssessing soil quality under different land cover types within shifting agriculture in South Cameroonen
dcterms.abstractThe common agricultural practice in the humid tropical forest zone of Cameroon is shifting cultivation, which leads to a landscape mosaic system characterized by a diversity of land cover types. Our objective was to evaluate soil properties and soil quality under these land cover types and to investigate on their interrelationships. Topsoil samples (0–20 cm) were collected at the same time from 8 different land cover types (bare soil with burned vegetation biomass (FR1), bare soil with unburned vegetation biomass (FR), Chromolaena odorata fallow (JC), bush ligneous fallow (JR), secondary forest (SF), primary forest (FC), Gilbertiodendron dewevrei forest (FG), and raffia and Uapacca forest (RA)) and analysed for routine laboratory determinations. A soil quality index (SQI) computed based on soil chemical properties, analysis of variance and multiple comparison tests were used to compare soils from different land cover types. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to select the most appropriate indicators that control soil quality. Several soil properties showed high to very high coefficient of variation within the land cover types. Organic matter was significantly high under forested land cover types (FC, FG, RA) and under bare soil with burned vegetation (FR1). Soil quality differs significantly (p = 0.000) from one land cover to another and shows the following ranking: SQI_FR1 SQI_FG > SQI_RA > SQI_FR > SQI_FC > SQI_JC > SQI_FS > SQI_JR. Organic matter (OM), available P, calcium (Ca), and pHw combined, accounted for 88.5% of the variation of soil quality. The soil quality appeared to be highly influenced by ashes from burned vegetation biomass which temporally enriches soils with nutrient elements and by the organic matter supplied by forested land cover types. The common agricultural practice in the humid tropical forest zone of Cameroon is shifting cultivation, which leads to a landscape mosaic system characterized by a diversity of land cover types. Our objective was to evaluate soil properties and soil quality under these land cover types and to investigate on their interrelationships. Topsoil samples (0–20 cm) were collected at the same time from 8 different land cover types (bare soil with burned vegetation biomass (FR1), bare soil with unburned vegetation biomass (FR), Chromolaena odorata fallow (JC), bush ligneous fallow (JR), secondary forest (SF), primary forest (FC), Gilbertiodendron dewevrei forest (FG), and raffia and Uapacca forest (RA)) and analysed for routine laboratory determinations. A soil quality index (SQI) computed based on soil chemical properties, analysis of variance and multiple comparison tests were used to compare soils from different land cover types. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to select the most appropriate indicators that control soil quality. Several soil properties showed high to very high coefficient of variation within the land cover types. Organic matter was significantly high under forested land cover types (FC, FG, RA) and under bare soil with burned vegetation (FR1). Soil quality differs significantly (p = 0.000) from one land cover to another and shows the following ranking: SQI_FR1 SQI_FG > SQI_RA > SQI_FR > SQI_FC > SQI_JC > SQI_FS > SQI_JR. Organic matter (OM), available P, calcium (Ca), and pHw combined, accounted for 88.5% of the variation of soil quality. The soil quality appeared to be highly influenced by ashes from burned vegetation biomass which temporally enriches soils with nutrient elements and by the organic matter supplied by forested land cover types. The common agricultural practice in the humid tropical forest zone of Cameroon is shifting cultivation, which leads to a landscape mosaic system characterized by a diversity of land cover types. Our objective was to evaluate soil properties and soil quality under these land cover types and to investigate on their interrelationships. Topsoil samples (0–20 cm) were collected at the same time from 8 different land cover types (bare soil with burned vegetation biomass (FR1), bare soil with unburned vegetation biomass (FR), Chromolaena odorata fallow (JC), bush ligneous fallow (JR), secondary forest (SF), primary forest (FC), Gilbertiodendron dewevrei forest (FG), and raffia and Uapacca forest (RA)) and analysed for routine laboratory determinations. A soil quality index (SQI) computed based on soil chemical properties, analysis of variance and multiple comparison tests were used to compare soils from different land cover types. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to select the most appropriate indicators that control soil quality. Several soil properties showed high to very high coefficient of variation within the land cover types. Organic matter was significantly high under forested land cover types (FC, FG, RA) and under bare soil with burned vegetation (FR1). Soil quality differs significantly (p = 0.000) from one land cover to another and shows the following ranking: SQI_FR1 SQI_FG > SQI_RA > SQI_FR > SQI_FC > SQI_JC > SQI_FS > SQI_JR. Organic matter (OM), available P, calcium (Ca), and pHw combined, accounted for 88.5% of the variation of soil quality. The soil quality appeared to be highly influenced by ashes from burned vegetation biomass which temporally enriches soils with nutrient elements and by the organic matter supplied by forested land cover types. The common agricultural practice in the humid tropical forest zone of Cameroon is shifting cultivation, which leads to a landscape mosaic system characterized by a diversity of land cover types. Our objective was to evaluate soil properties and soil quality under these land cover types and to investigate on their interrelationships. Topsoil samples (0–20 cm) were collected at the same time from 8 different land cover types (bare soil with burned vegetation biomass (FR1), bare soil with unburned vegetation biomass (FR), Chromolaena odorata fallow (JC), bush ligneous fallow (JR), secondary forest (SF), primary forest (FC), Gilbertiodendron dewevrei forest (FG), and raffia and Uapacca forest (RA)) and analysed for routine laboratory determinations. A soil quality index (SQI) computed based on soil chemical properties, analysis of variance and multiple comparison tests were used to compare soils from different land cover types. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to select the most appropriate indicators that control soil quality. Several soil properties showed high to very high coefficient of variation within the land cover types. Organic matter was significantly high under forested land cover types (FC, FG, RA) and under bare soil with burned vegetation (FR1). Soil quality differs significantly (p = 0.000) from one land cover to another and shows the following ranking: SQI_FR1 SQI_FG > SQI_RA > SQI_FR > SQI_FC > SQI_JC > SQI_FS > SQI_JR. Organic matter (OM), available P, calcium (Ca), and pHw combined, accounted for 88.5% of the variation of soil quality. The soil quality appeared to be highly influenced by ashes from burned vegetation biomass which temporally enriches soils with nutrient elements and by the organic matter supplied by forested land cover types.en
dcterms.accessRightsLimited Access
dcterms.bibliographicCitationNgo-Mbogba, M., Yemefack, M., & Nyeck, B. (2015). Assessing soil quality under different land cover types within shifting agriculture in South Cameroon. Soil and Tillage Research, 150, 124-131.en
dcterms.extentpp. 124-131en
dcterms.issued2015-07
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCopyrighted; all rights reserved
dcterms.publisherElsevieren
dcterms.subjectfallowen
dcterms.subjectforestsen
dcterms.subjectorganic matteren
dcterms.typeJournal Article

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