ABSTRACT

Exploring the impact of changes in land use in soils of the desert margin soils in Nigeria .This research is a key component to global climate change. Soil samples were taken in two vegetation zone Sahel and Sudan Savannah under four different land uses( Forest Area, Arable land, Fallow land and Grazing land) at a depth of 0-15cm. The locations under Sahel Savannah are Goronyo ,Gamawa and Minjibir while the site under Sudan Savannah are Hadeija and Ulela. A 5x4x3 factorial experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design (RCBD) for the five locations, four land uses and three replicate for physical and chemical analysis. The results showed variation of soil organic carbon in different land use types. The soils have very high sand content. Grazing land had the highest organic carbon content(0.58% ). Dry stable aggregate was higher in grazing land and lowest in cropland. This results suggest that AS has an interpretable relationship with grazing land and soil organic matter appears to be the main determining factor controlling aggregate stability. However since soil nutrients depletion was very high in arable land, there must be a careful choice of appropriate use of land to reduce soil nutrients depletion and enhance soil productivity. Land use approaches, multiple cropping, organic mulching are recommended in other to minimize soil nutrients depletion which mostly accounted for major degradation in arable land.

KEY WORDS: Desert margin soils ,Aggregate stability, Land use ,Carbon sequestration