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Physical Land Suitability Evaluation for Irrigation in the Lower Alwero River Area of Abobo, Western Ethiopia

Received: 3 August 2013    Accepted: 10 January 2017    Published: 9 May 2017
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Abstract

Land suitability assessment plays an important role in identifying biophysical constraints and evaluating potential capacity of land and its sustainable use. Physical land suitability evaluation for irrigation was carried out in the lower Alwero river area of Abobo, western Ethiopia, following FAO methodology for general irrigation farming. The irrigation suitability of five land mapping units (LMUs): 1Ac, 1Bc, 1Ecl, 2Cc and 3Ccl were assessed by considering slope, drainage, top soil texture, sub soil texture, surface stoniness, surface coarse fragments, subsurface coarse fragment, rockiness, depth to solid rock or hardpan, lime, gypsum, electrical conductivity (EC) and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP). The result revealed that LMU 1Ac, 1Bc and 2Cc, with total area of 22,367.9 ha (83.7%), were moderately suitable (S2). The moderate limiting factors were drainage, top soil texture and subsoil texture. On the other hand, LMU 1Ec1, covering an area of 3,677.6 ha (13.8%) was not suitable (N) for irrigation due to subsurface coarse fragments and depth to solid rock or hardpan. For all LMUs, parameters like lime, gypsum, EC and ESP were not considered as limiting factors.

Published in American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry (Volume 5, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajaf.20170503.14
Page(s) 60-64
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Irrigation Suitability, Land Mapping Unit, Limiting Factor

References
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[18] M. Albaji, A.A. Naseri, P. Papan and S.B. Nasab, “Qualitative evaluation of land suitability for principal crops in the west Shoush pain, Southwest Iran. Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science, 15 (2): 135-145, 2009.
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  • APA Style

    Teshome Yitbarek, Kibebew Kibret, Shelem Beyene. (2017). Physical Land Suitability Evaluation for Irrigation in the Lower Alwero River Area of Abobo, Western Ethiopia. American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 5(3), 60-64. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20170503.14

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    ACS Style

    Teshome Yitbarek; Kibebew Kibret; Shelem Beyene. Physical Land Suitability Evaluation for Irrigation in the Lower Alwero River Area of Abobo, Western Ethiopia. Am. J. Agric. For. 2017, 5(3), 60-64. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaf.20170503.14

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    AMA Style

    Teshome Yitbarek, Kibebew Kibret, Shelem Beyene. Physical Land Suitability Evaluation for Irrigation in the Lower Alwero River Area of Abobo, Western Ethiopia. Am J Agric For. 2017;5(3):60-64. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaf.20170503.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajaf.20170503.14,
      author = {Teshome Yitbarek and Kibebew Kibret and Shelem Beyene},
      title = {Physical Land Suitability Evaluation for Irrigation in the Lower Alwero River Area of Abobo, Western Ethiopia},
      journal = {American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry},
      volume = {5},
      number = {3},
      pages = {60-64},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajaf.20170503.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20170503.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajaf.20170503.14},
      abstract = {Land suitability assessment plays an important role in identifying biophysical constraints and evaluating potential capacity of land and its sustainable use. Physical land suitability evaluation for irrigation was carried out in the lower Alwero river area of Abobo, western Ethiopia, following FAO methodology for general irrigation farming. The irrigation suitability of five land mapping units (LMUs): 1Ac, 1Bc, 1Ecl, 2Cc and 3Ccl were assessed by considering slope, drainage, top soil texture, sub soil texture, surface stoniness, surface coarse fragments, subsurface coarse fragment, rockiness, depth to solid rock or hardpan, lime, gypsum, electrical conductivity (EC) and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP). The result revealed that LMU 1Ac, 1Bc and 2Cc, with total area of 22,367.9 ha (83.7%), were moderately suitable (S2). The moderate limiting factors were drainage, top soil texture and subsoil texture. On the other hand, LMU 1Ec1, covering an area of 3,677.6 ha (13.8%) was not suitable (N) for irrigation due to subsurface coarse fragments and depth to solid rock or hardpan. For all LMUs, parameters like lime, gypsum, EC and ESP were not considered as limiting factors.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Physical Land Suitability Evaluation for Irrigation in the Lower Alwero River Area of Abobo, Western Ethiopia
    AU  - Teshome Yitbarek
    AU  - Kibebew Kibret
    AU  - Shelem Beyene
    Y1  - 2017/05/09
    PY  - 2017
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20170503.14
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajaf.20170503.14
    T2  - American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry
    JF  - American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry
    JO  - American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry
    SP  - 60
    EP  - 64
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-8591
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20170503.14
    AB  - Land suitability assessment plays an important role in identifying biophysical constraints and evaluating potential capacity of land and its sustainable use. Physical land suitability evaluation for irrigation was carried out in the lower Alwero river area of Abobo, western Ethiopia, following FAO methodology for general irrigation farming. The irrigation suitability of five land mapping units (LMUs): 1Ac, 1Bc, 1Ecl, 2Cc and 3Ccl were assessed by considering slope, drainage, top soil texture, sub soil texture, surface stoniness, surface coarse fragments, subsurface coarse fragment, rockiness, depth to solid rock or hardpan, lime, gypsum, electrical conductivity (EC) and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP). The result revealed that LMU 1Ac, 1Bc and 2Cc, with total area of 22,367.9 ha (83.7%), were moderately suitable (S2). The moderate limiting factors were drainage, top soil texture and subsoil texture. On the other hand, LMU 1Ec1, covering an area of 3,677.6 ha (13.8%) was not suitable (N) for irrigation due to subsurface coarse fragments and depth to solid rock or hardpan. For all LMUs, parameters like lime, gypsum, EC and ESP were not considered as limiting factors.
    VL  - 5
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Natural Resource Management, College of Agriculture and Natural Resource, Wolkite University, Wolkite, Ethiopa

  • School of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, College of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia

  • Department of Plant and Horticultural Science, College of Agriculture, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia

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