Changes in Soil Properties in Response to Land Management in Lyon County, Kentucky

There are different types of land use, with some becoming very popular, such as no-till systems in Kentucky. These land uses have an impact on the soil properties such as organic matter and soil water holding capacity. The objective for this study was to determine the six different land uses on selected soil properties and how these land uses could affect the future of farming. Undisturbed and disturbed replications were taken from Lyon County, Kentucky at a depth of 0 -7.5 cm. These six fields consisted of pasture, no-till, conventional till, wooded area, subdivision, and heavy equipment areas. In the till, no-till, and pasture there were four replications taken throughout the field. In the wooded areas, subdivisions, and heavy equipment areas there were four replications were taken around building and other structures. These were measured for bulk density, soil porosity, macroporosity, and soil water holding capacity. They were compared to each other to understand how the different land uses change the soil properties, and more specifically how buildings change these properties. Much of the data did not provide evidence of significant change except for soil organic matter and bulk density. In our research we found that the subdivision had a 5.4% organic matter content. The next highest was the wooded area with 4.4%. The soil bulk density in the pasture was 1.32 g/cm^3. This was much lower than every other spot. The heavy equipment area had the second highest bulk density with 1.44 g/cm^3. The data from this research is important to farmers and property owners to understand the impact of structures and land use on fields. Keywords: Bulk Density, Land Use, Soil Organic Matter, Soil Porosity, Water Retention