Relationship between landscape positions and selected soil properties at a Sawah site in Ghana

Abstract

A study was conducted at a sawah site in Ghana to examine the relationship between landscape position and some selected soil properties with the aim of generating adequate data for modeling landscape relationships and to aid both researchers and farmers in taking critical management decisions. Soil properties namely total porosity, moisture content, infiltration rates, hydraulic conductivity, sand content, silt content, clay content, gravel concentration, bulk density, soil pH, total nitrogen, soil organic matter and cation exchange capacity were collected and analysed. Data were collected at the foot slopes, middle slopes and at the upper slopes from four major landuses (maize, oil palm, natural vegetation and plantain) in the study area. Simple statistical parameters such as mean and standard deviation were used to analyse the data. Moisture content, total porosity, soil pH, organic matter and carbon and total nitrogen increased downslope whilst sand content, clay content, bulk density occurred at upper slopes decreased downslope. Management practices appeared to have influenced infiltration rate, hydraulic conductivity and silt content.