ABSTRACT

Variation in physico-chernical properties of soils (forest and vegetable farm soils) in Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU) was studied. The samples were collected with auger and core samplers at 0-30cm depth from both sites. Soil physical properties (particle size distribution, clay flocculation index(CFD%),clay dispersion index (CDI%), clay dispersion ratio(CDR), percent water stable aggregate (%WSA), saturated hydrauic conductivity (Ksat), bulk density (BD) and total porosity (PT)) and chemical properties (soil acidity (Pd), organic carbon (OC%), total nitrogen (N%), exchangeable acidity (EA), exchangeable bases (EB), effective cation exchange capacity(ECEC), and base saturation (BS)) were analyzed in the laboratory. Selected laboratory results were subjected to ANOVA and Pearson's correlation analysis. Results show significant positive correlations irrespective of land use system between Ksat and PT, BD and %WSA (<0.6mm), as well as between BD and CDR. While Ksat was negatively correlated with BD. BD also correlated negatively with CFI, and PT correlated negatively with %WS A<0 .6mm ) .Soil P" also showed significant (P=0.05) positive correlation with CDI. There was gencrally higher micro aggregate stability in the forest soil than in the SIWES (vegetable) farm. Keywords: Total porosity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, land use systems, physico-chemical properties, micro aggregation.