Effect of Land Use-Type on Soil Physical Properties Under Six Different Plantations

The effects of land use type (LUT) on the physicochemical properties of the soils ofmango plantations (MPs), Neem plantations (NPs), arable farms (AFs), vegetable farms(FFs), flood plains (FPs), and residential areas (RAs) were evaluated from NovemberDecember 2022. Soil samples were collected from the ecological zone of Nigeria Sudan,which is Borno. To understand the drastic changes in land use types and their effects onecosystems, investigations are required to explore the extent to which LUT affects soilproperties in arid environments. Samples were collected at predetermined depths of 0-20 and20-40 cm in all the LUTs. The samples were subjected to laboratory analysis and statisticaltools such as Factorial (ANOVA) and Means Separations using (LSD) at a 0.05% probabilitylevel. Analysis of the effects of LUT and depth on soil particle size revealed that VFs hadmore sand and fewer FPs, with values of 70.30% and 55.30%, respectively; FPs had more siltand fewer AFs, with values of 30.833% and 14.583%, respectively; and AFs had more clayand fewer VFs, with values of 18.033% and 11.783%, respectively. There were nodifferences in the soil characteristics, and the soil textures were sandy loam for all the LUTs.BD, TP, WHC, MWD, θ, PR, and MC ranged from 1.37–1.46 g/cm2, 44.67–48.5%, 21.23– 29.70%, 0.077–0.1515 mm, 26.733–36.017°C, 20.833–29.333 N/cm and 0.1543–0.3303cm3/cm3, respectively, with the greatest ranges found for VF-AF, AF-VF, MP-FP, RA-VF,VF-RA, VF-AF and RA-VF, respectively. Based on these findings, the 20-40 cm soil layerwas best for all the LUTs. This study showed that land use type can affect soil physicalproperties. Therefore, vegetable farms and Neem plantations at depths of 20-40 cm wererecommended for the study area