Variability of soil physicochemical properties under different land use types in the Guinea savanna zone of northern Ghana

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map of Ghana showing the study area and the land use types (protected areas, fallow area and farmlands) in the Guinea Savanna zone of Northern Ghana.

Table 1. Effect of land use type on selected physicochemical properties of soils in three communities in the Guinea Savanna zone of Northern Ghana

Treatment	Landuse type	pH	SOC (%)	TN (%)	Pav (mg kg^−1)	Extractable bases (cmol kg^−1)			ECEC	Particle size distribution %
Community						Ca	Mg	K		Sand	Silt	Clay	Texture
Mognori	PA	6.66^a	1.10^a	0.17^a	6.75^a	3.14^d	1.18^a	0.50	6.10^ab	70.74	17.89	3.56	SL
	FL	6.16^b	0.42^c	0.08^c	5.87^b	3.30 ^cd	0.97^a	0.29	5.70 ^cd	69.82	18.34	3.84	SL
	FA	5.52^d	0.24^d	0.05^d	5.33^c	3.42^bc	0.88^ab	0.16	5.48^de	70.62	17.75	3.82	SL
Jagbo	PA	6.27^b	0.70^b	0.13^b	4.12^d	3.46^bc	1.10^a	0.42	6.22^ab	34.60	40.31	7.74	SiL
	FL	6.12^b	0.27^d	0.04^d	2.87^e	3.54^b	0.59^bc	0.12	6.06^b	33.22	41.44	7.34	SiL
	FA	5.50^d	0.22^de	0.04^d	2.94^e	2.28 ^f	0.45^c	0.33	5.64 ^cd	35.08	40.29	7.24	SiL
Tugu	PA	6.08^bc	0.74^b	0.12^b	4.98^c	4.18^a	0.60^bc	0.23	6.32^a	66.12	19.57	5.78	SL
	FL	5.82^c	0.27^d	0.03^de	1.29 ^f	2.66^e	0.58^bc	0.16	5.78^c	67.90	18.59	5.34	SL
	FA	5.28^d	0.14^e	0.01^e	1.11 ^f	2.30 ^f	0.49^c	0.07	5.40^e	69.70	17.47	5.20	SL
	p-value	0.015	0.000	0.015	0.000	0.000	0.001	0.995	0.001	0.624	0.902	0.338
	SE	0.06	0.05	0.01	0.28	0.09	0.04	0.01	0.05	2.52	1.64	0.24

Means in the same column followed by the same letter are not significantly different at p ≤ 0.05; SOC = soil organic carbon, TN = soil total nitrogen, P_av = available phosphorus, Ca = calcium, K = potassium, ECEC = effective cation exchange capacity, cmol (+) kg⁻¹, BD = bulk density, SL = Sandy loam, SiL = Silty loam. PA = Protected Area/forests, FL = Fallow land and FA = farmlands.

Figure 2. Proportion of soil in the selected communities at in the Guinea Savanna Zone of Northern Ghana Error bars represent standard error of means.

Table 2. Effect of soil depth on selected physicochemical properties of soils under three land use types in the Guinea Savanna zone of Northern Ghana

Soil depth (cm)	Land use Type	Extractable bases (cmol kg^−1)
		SOC (%)	TN (%)	Pav	Ca	Mg	K	EA	ECEC	BD	Sand	Silt	Clay
0–15	PA	1.20^a	0.08^a	11.92^d	3.38^a	0.66 ^cd	0.20^bc	0.21^ab	5.73	1.34	76.28^a	18.15^d	3.63
	FL	0.45^b	0.05^b	7.60^b	3.12^a	0.68 ^cd	0.24^ab	0.27^a	5.22	1.44	76.30^a	17.96^d	3.63
	FA	0.38^bc	0.04^bc	7.41^b	3.42^a	0.86^bc	0.30^a	0.19^a-^c	5.10	1.53	76.67^a	17.85^d	3.91
15–30	PA	0.25 ^cd	0.04^b-^d	6.41^b	2.32^bc	0.58^d	0.18^b-^d	0.16^bc	4.98	1.39	59.67^b	22.33^c	16.67
	FL	0.12^de	0.02^de	3.66^c	2.38^b	0.90^b	0.10^d	0.11^bc	4.70	1.52	56.27^bc	23.93^c	17.25
	FA	0.10^de	0.02^c-^e	3.30 ^cd	2.40^b	1.02^b	0.22^a-^c	0.11^bc	4.76	1.60	53.92^c	26.15^b	18.56
30–45	PA	0.14^de	0.02^c-^e	2.67 ^cd	2.01^c	0.98^b	0.14 ^cd	0.07^c	3.12	1.50	37.03^d	40.23^a	20.77
	FL	0.07^e	0.01^e	2.80 ^cd	1.60^d	1.06^ab	0.10^d	0.11^c	2.77	1.58	39.33^d	38.00^a	21.53
	FA	0.03^e	0.01^e	1.72^d	1.59^d	1.26^a	0.10^d	0.10^c	2.86	1.69	37.49^d	40.33^a	22.44
p-value		0.000	0.014	0.000	0.003	0.023	0.001	0.030	0.090	0.853	0.008	0.004	0.06
SE		0.06	0.005	0.04	0.10	0.05	0.02	0.02	0.2	0.02	1.41	0.96	0.49

Means in the same column followed by the same letter are not significantly different at p ≤ 0.05; % OC = percentage organic carbon, TN = soil total nitrogen, P_av = available phosphorus, Ca = calcium, K = potassium, EA = exchangeable acidity, ECEC = effective cation exchange capacity, cmol (+) kg⁻¹, BD = bulk density. PA = Protected Area/forests, FL = Fallow land and FA = farmlands, SE = Standard error

Table 3. Pearson’s product-moment correlation between selected physical and chemical properties in the depth of 0–45 cm under different Land use types in the Guinea Savanna zone of Northern Ghana

Variables	Ph	Pav	TN	% SOC	ECEC	Clay	BD
P	0.578***
TN	0.541***	0.879***
%SOC	0.596***	0.865***	0.822***
ECEC	0.355**	0.764***	0.642***	0.628***
Clay	−0.449***	−0.858***	−0.734***	−0.748***	−0.775***
BD	0.252ns	−0.209ns	−0.113ns	−0.084ns	−0.409**	0.454***
Depth	−0.384**	−0.838***	−0.712***	−0.727***	−0.893***	0.929***	0.454***

Asterisks denote statistical significance of correlations: ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001 and ns = non-significance.

Data availability statement

Data related to the study will be made available by the corresponding author upon request.