Journal of Rangeland

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Inappropriate land use change has a great effect on soil degradation and soil fertility the process that has dramatically increase in recent decades. To prove the case, five land uses including  grazing exclosure, seeded grasslands by Bromus tomentellus, grazing range, cultivated lands by Secale montanum and dry farming were selected. Samples were taken in a systematic random design using of 3 transects of 50 meters long and 3 plots (1 × 1 square meter) along each transect. Soil samples were collected for the first 20 cm top soil. Aggregate stability, soil texture, bulk density, organic carbon, Tn, pH and EC were measured. Data analyzed with GLMM and compare mean with Tukey in R software. Results showed that aggregate stability and clay were not significant factors. However, land use change has led to an increase in EC, silt and bulk density and a decrease in the of sand percentage from 40% to 20/78% in  dry farming and decrease nitrogen. The mean nitrogen content was highest at 0.54% in natural lands and the lowest in the dry farming with 0.17%. Generally speaking, it could be stated that land use change can change the soil's physical and chemical properties by decreasing soil quality and reducing soil fertility.

Keywords: Land degradation, Land use change, Exclosure, Kojur, Soil nitrogen.

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