Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:
EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">Agriculture has had a significant effect on the
world's landscape for decades. Over the years agricultural practices have seen
dramatic changes that have caused a great impact on the soil leading to its
degradation.
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:
minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:
EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">
minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:
AR-SA">Food and fiber productivity soared due to new technologies,
mechanization, increased chemical use, commercial seeds, fertilizers, fuel, and
governmental policies that favored maximizing production. Although these
changes have had many positive effects on farming, there have also been
significant costs. Prominent among these is the degradation of soil (Lal and
Stewart, 1990).
TITLE PAGE i
TABLE OF
CONTENT ii
CHAPTER ONE
1.0
Introduction 1
1.1
Problem Statement 4
1.2
Scope Of The Study 4
1.3 Justification of the
Study 4
1.4 Objective of the Study 5
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 Literature Review 6
2.1 Agriculture practices 6
2.2 Effects of agriculture practices on soil
fauna in agro- ecosystems 8
2.2.1 Tillage and crop patterns 8
2.2.2 Crop rotations 9
2.2.3 Fertilizer application 11
2.2.4 Pesticides application 14
2.3 Agricultural practices and their impact
on soil quality 15
2.3.1 Irrigation 17
2.3.2 Organic amendments 21
2.3.3 Liming 23
2.4 Soil Erosion 24
2.5 Soil Properties 27
2.5.1 Physical Properties 27
2.5.2 Chemical Properties 31
2.5.3 Biological Properties 33
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 Materials and Methods 36
3.1 Study site 36
3.2 Study site Description 36
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">3.3 Geology
38
3.4 Soil sampling and test 38
REFERENCE 41