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\begin{document}

\title{Runoff, soil loss, and soil properties as influenced by land use and
management practices: Case study from the Upper Blue Nile basin,
Ethiopia}



\author[1]{Kindiye Ebabu}%
\author[1]{Atsushi Tsunekawa}%
\author[1]{Nigussie Haregeweyn}%
\author[2]{Enyew Adgo}%
\author[2]{Derege Meshesha}%
\author[2]{Dagnachew Aklog}%
\author[3]{Tsugiyuki Masunaga}%
\author[1]{Mitsuru Tsubo}%
\author[2]{Dagnenet Sultan}%
\author[1]{Ayele Fenta}%
\author[1]{Mesenbet Yibeltal}%
\affil[1]{Tottori University}%
\affil[2]{Bahir Dar University}%
\affil[3]{Shimane University}%


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  \date{May 19, 2024}


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\begin{abstract}
Soil erosion by water is one of the most pressing environmental
challenges in Ethiopia where small-scale agriculture is the main source
of livelihood for about 87\% of country's population. In the past few
decades, huge financial and labor resources have been invested for the
implementation of sustainable land management (SLM) practices in many
regions of Ethiopia to mitigate soil erosion and related consequences.
Relevant studies are, however, limited for the wetter and actively
eroding regions like the Upper Blue Nile basin due partly to
insufficient policy attention and difficulties inherent in collecting
sufficient and reliable runoff, soil, and sediment data at wider spatial
and temporal scales. This study was, therefore, conducted in three
contrasting agro-ecologies (lowland, midland, and highland) of the Upper
Blue Nile basin to quantify the influence of land use and management
practices on runoff, soil loss (SL), and soil properties. The analysis
of runoff and SL was based on the data collected during the rainy
seasons of 2015 and 2016 using runoff plots (30 m \selectlanguage{ngerman}× 6 m) from three land
use types (cropland, grazing land, and degraded bushland) with four
treatments (control, soil bund, Fanya juu, and soil bund reinforced with
grass) for croplands, and three treatments (control, and exclosure with
and without trenches) for non-croplands (grazing land, and degraded
bushland). Topsoil (0--20 cm) samples were collected from the runoff
plots in 2015 (at the beginning of the experiment) and 2018 (three years
later) and analyzed for nine soil properties---texture, bulk density
(BD), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), cation exchange capacity (CEC),
total nitrogen (TN), soil organic carbon (SOC), available phosphorus
(Pav), and available potassium (Kav). The results show that runoff, SL,
and soil properties varied greatly across land use and SLM practices in
all three agro-ecologies. The highest rates of both seasonal runoff (898
mm in 2016) and SL (39.67 t ha\selectlanguage{english}-1 in 2015) were observed from untreated
grazing land in the midland agro-ecology, largely because of heavy
grazing and intense rain events. Whereas, the lowest values of pH, CEC,
SOC, and TN values were observed in croplands, probably owing to
unsustainable cropping systems practiced over centuries. In all
agro-ecologies and land use types, both runoff and SL were significantly
lower (P \textless{} 0.05) in plots with SLM than without: SLM practices
reduced runoff by 11\% to 68\%, and SL by 38\% to 94\% depending of land
use and agro-ecology, and sensitive soil properties (BD, SOC, TN, Pav,
and Kav) were markedly improved three years after the implementation of
SLM practices. Soil bund reinforced with grass in croplands and
exclosure with trenches in non-croplands were found to be the most
effective SLM practices for reducing runoff and SL, and improving soil
properties, indicating that combined structural and vegetative measures
are the best way to control soil erosion and related consequences.%
\end{abstract}\selectlanguage{ngerman}%



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