Land Use and Slope Position Effect on the Hydrological Properties of Sandy Loam Soils of Koupendri Catchment, North-West of Benin

Abstract

<p><strong>Background.</strong> Land use and landscape characteristics influence soil hydrological properties and catchment hydrology. <strong>Objective.</strong> To investigate the effect of land use and slope positions on soil hydrological properties. <strong>Methodology. </strong>The study was done in Koupendri catchment, northwest Benin. The experimental design was a 2x2 factorial scheme replicated ten times. The study considered two land use types and two slope positions. The soil texture was sandy loam with high gravel (50-71%) and low organic carbon (11-18.4 g/kg) contents. <strong>Results. </strong>The Ksat in-situ and steady state infiltration were significantly (p<0.05) influenced by land use. Higher Ksat values of 5.33-11.96 cm/h and steady state infiltration (13.53 cm/h) were obtained under fallow shrub-grassland (FSG) compared to 2.21-3.04 cm/h and 3.58 cm/h respectively under tilled maize-beans (MBT). At both daily and 30-minute timescales, the maximum in-situ soil moistures were 0.270cm<sup>3</sup>/cm<sup>3</sup> and 0.393cm<sup>3</sup>/cm<sup>3</sup>, respectively under FSG compared to 0.221cm<sup>3</sup>/cm<sup>3</sup> and 0.202cm<sup>3</sup>/cm<sup>3</sup> recorded under MBT. The coefficient of variation (CV) of the soil hydrological properties was low (<10%) for BD and porosity, moderate (<30%) for <!--?mso-application progid="Word.Document"?--> 14 θi"> , <!--?mso-application progid="Word.Document"?--> 14θf"> , and Ksat in-situ and very high (>50%) for Ksat-Lab. <strong>Conclusion. </strong>Land use significantly influenced soil hydrological properties </p>