The Effects of Land Use and Landscape Position on Soil Physicochemical Properties in a Semiarid Watershed, Northern Ethiopia

Table 6

Effects of land use types and altitudinal gradients on soil pH (H₂O) and EC.

Soil variables	Land use types	Altitudinal gradients			Average
		Lower	Middle	Upper
pH (water)	Barren land	—	6.84 ± 0.08	7.30 ± 0.08	7.07^b ± 0.08
	Cultivated land	7.10 ± 0.08	6.99 ± 0.08	6.93 ± 0.08	7.01^b ± 0.08
	Grassland	7.14 ± 0.08	7.24 ± 0.08	7.54 ± 0.08	7.31^a ± 0.08
	Plantation forest	—	6.29 ± 0.08	6.66 ± 0.08	6.48^c±0.08
Average		7.12^a ± 0.08	6.84^b ± 0.08	7.11^a ± 0.08	6.97 ± 0.08
EC (mS cm^−1)	Barren land	—	0.12 ± 0.01	0.08 ± 0.01	0.10^d ± 0.01
	Cultivated land	0.16 ± 0.01	0.13 ± 0.01	0.12 ± 0.01	0.14^c ± 0.01
	Grassland	0.47 ± 0.01	0.28 ± 0.01	0.36 ± 0.0	0.37^a ± 0.01
	Plantation forest	—	0.20 ± 0.01	0.18 ± 0.01	0.19^b ± 0.01
Average		0.32^a ± 0.01	0.18^b ± 0.01	0.19^b ± 0.01	0.20 ± 0.01

Overall means within columns and rows followed by the same superscript letter(s) are not significantly different ( < 0.05) as influenced by land use and altitude based on Duncan’s test. Values shown are means ± standard error (n = 3).