Effects of soil bund on soil physical and chemical properties in Arsi Negelle woreda, Central Ethiopia

This study was conducted in Arsi Negelle woreda of West Arsi Zone, Oromia regional state. The main objective of the study was to investigate the impacts of soil bund on soil physical and chemical properties in Arsi Negelle woreda. The soil data was collected from sites namely: lowland, midland and highland and from soil bunds aged >4 years, 4years) at both soil sampling depths. Aged soil bunds (treated plots) showed a significant changes on soil physical and chemical properties than control plots. The mean of total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorous (AP) and organic carbon contents were recorded significantly higher (p≤ 0.05) in lowland than highland at both soil sampling depths. In generally, ages of soil bunds and sites had significant effect on many soil physical and chemical properties. The sites and ages interaction had significant effect on bulk density (BD) at both depths at P ≤ 0.05. In conclusion, this study showed that soil bunds had significant effect on many physical and chemical properties of soil in the study area.   Key words: Soil bund, bulk density, saturated hydraulic conductivity, electrical conductivity, total nitrogen, organic carbon.