The soil textural fractions were determined following the
hydrometer method after the soil was dispersed using sodium
hexametaphosphate solution in the laboratory (USDA, 1972). SOC
was determined according to the Walkley and Black method
(Schnitzer, 1982). Soil bulk density was determined after an oven
drying at 105 8C for 24 h. Total porosity was determined according
to Oguike and Mbagwu (2009) assuming a particle density (Pd) of
2.65 g cm3
. The gravimetric soil moisture content (SMC, %) was
calculated following the method described by Cuenca (1989). Both
the rate and cumulative water infiltrations for each land use type
were determined using a set of Double Ring Infiltrometer
(Bertrannd, 1965). It was carried out in triplicate on each land
use type (3 age categories 2 land uses types (treatments) 3
replications) separately.
Laboratory results were analyzed using General Linear Model
(GLM) procedure of SPSS version 16.0 for windows (SPSS Inc.,
Chicago, USA). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to test
the degree of variations. Tukey’s Honest Significance Difference
(HSD) test was used when the mean separation showed statistically
significant differences (p < 0.05).
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