Effects of habitat gradient and agro-climatic variation on selected soil physical and chemical properties in the Bale Mountains national park, south-eastern Ethiopia

Table 4 The mean (± SE) values of selected soil physical properties as affected by habitat gradients

Soil properties	Habitat gradients		Mean	F	Sig
Soil properties	Edge habitat	Interior habitat	Mean	F	Sig
Sand (%)	55.43 ± 1.04	54.52 ± 0.99	54.97 ± 0.71	1.45	ns
Silt (%)	25.39 ± 1.34	24.79 ± 1.20	25.09 ± 0.89	1.04	ns
Clay (%)	19.18 ± 1.97	20.69 ± 1.57	19.94 ± 1.25	0.76	ns
Si/Cl	2.31 ± 0.57	1.44 ± 0.15	1.88 ± 0.30	0.082	ns
BD (g/cm.³)	0.75 ± 0.08^a	0.64 ± 0.06^b	0.69 ± 0.05	8.09	*
pH (H₂0)	5.58 ± 0.11	5.62 ± 0.11	5.60 ± 0.08	1.04	ns
SOC (%)	6.40 ± 0.38	6.63 ± 0.39	6.51 ± 0.27	0.57	ns
TN (%)	0.56 ± 0.08^b	0.73 ± 0.08^a	0.64 ± 0.06	15.90	*
C/N ratio	14.65 ± 1.59^a	10.67 ± 0.74^b	12.65 ± 0.91	6.35	*
AP (mg/kg)	9.82 ± 1.05^b	12.81 ± 1.59^a	11.31 ± 0.97	14.69	**
CEC (cmol/kg)	20.19 ± 1.49	23.67 ± 1.62	21.93 ± 1.12	0.76	ns

Means in each column with the same superscript letter are not significantly different at P ≤ 0.05; BD bulk density, SOC organic carbon, TN total nitrogen, C/N carbon to nitrogen ratio, AP available phosphorus, CEC cation exchange capacity, ns nonsignificant; ^∗∗p < 0.01 and ^∗p < 0.05

ISSN: 2730-7182