Int. J. Biotechnol. and Allied Sci. vol.

0, pp 0 - 0
ISSN: 1597-9784 Academic and Scientific Research Institute Publication, 2007
Available online at http://www.ijobas.org

EFFECTS OF EROSION ON THE TOPSOIL PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND MICROBIAL

DIVERSITY OF A FARMLAND IN ISUIKWUATO, ABIA STATE.
1
Onwuchekwa I S, 2 Asamudo, N.U., 2Udo, D. and 2Ekoi, O.H.
1
Dept of Geography and Planning, Abia State University, Uturu
2
Dept of Microbiology, University of Uyo, Uyo.
Abstract
The effects of erosion on the topsoil physicochemical properties and microbial diversity were investigated in a
farmland at Isuikwuato, Abia State. Three areas were sampled the elevated top portion, the middle and the lower
portions near the gully with a fourth, 500m away from a seemingly flat surface as control. The lower portion near the
gully(300m from the first) became sandy (74% sand), with acidic pH (5.6) and lower moisture content compared to
the other portions. Soil EC, CEC and trace elements (Ca, Mg and K) were highest in the much eroded lower portion
near the gully while organic matter, total nitrate and total phosphate were highest in the control followed by the top
portion (P < 0.05). The heavy metals (Pb, Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn) also had their highest values in the much eroded lower
portion and the least in the control followed by top portion. Microbial diversity analysis showed that nitrifying,
phosphate solubilizing and lipolyptic bacteria were the most affected in that order by the erosion process while the
least was the total heterotrophic bacteria (P<0.05). The fungal count also decreased (P<0.05) more than the
actinomycetes and the coliforms. Results obtained call for remineralization if the eroded soil should continue to serve
its agricultural purposes as plant nutrients were adversely affected by the erosion process.

Keywords: Erosion, soil, bacterial, groups, properties

Introduction considered factor in soil erosion especially

Soil erosion involves the preferential
removal and redistribution of the light soil
fractions comprising soil plant nutrients and
several other organic and inorganic
components (Kimble et al, 1999; Ali, et al,
2006, Abegunde et al, 2006). The erosion
also results in loss of water holding capacity,
silt and clay components thereby exposing of
the sandy underlying portion (Ali, et al,
2006). The sum total of the soil erosion
effects results in loss of soil structure which
lead to poor plant rooting depth, and
decreased soil storage capacity (Ali et al,
2009; Ghose; 2002).
The loss experienced in erosion is
based on the physical, chemical and
biological properties of the soil (Lal and
Suigh, 1998, Ali et al, 2009). This therefore
explains the poor crop yields in eroded soils.
This is because of loss of soil organic
carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and
other trace elements vital for plaint growth
and yield. (Zhang and Nearing 2005,
Abegunde et al, 2006).
The extent of the loss of soil nutrients
is dependent on the degree of the erosion,
time and the topography of the affected area,
in addition to the type of soil involved
(Kimble et al, 1999, Ali et al, 1998).
However, inspite of the above factors, the
strength of the agent of the erosion is a more
where rain water run off is strong
(Klimowics et al, 2006, Rezania et al, 2009).
Accelerated soil erosion affects soil quality
on site not only for agricultural purposes but
some other developmental projects too
(Nordon et al, 1998, Lal and Snigh, 1998).
Food security and stability in the
world greatly depends on the management of
natural resources. The remediative measures
applied in any degraded soil is based on the
extent of the degradation and the prevailing
quality of the affected soil. The human
population is increasing greatly with very
limited agricultural farming space hence the
available farmland needs to be evaluated and
preserved. This study was therefore designed
to evaluate the soil physicochemical
properties and microbial diversity of the
eroded farmland soil in Isuikwuato. This was
assessed to estimate the likely extent of
application of organic and inorganic fertilizer
needed to return the soil to its original or
better state for agricultural purposes.
Materials and Methods
The study area is Isuikwuato, Abia
state, Nigeria. The area is located between
latitude and longitude.
The sampled area is a farmland spanning
over fifteen hectares. While the top portion
of the farmland is close a hill, the down
portion terminates in a gully.

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Int. J. Biotechnol. and Allied Sci.
Sample Collection
Soil samples were collected from
four different points. First point (top portion)
was near the hill, the middle 150m away, and
300m away from the top portion. A fourth
sample was collected from over 500m away
from an apparently flat soil as control. At
each sampling point, three samples were
collected and pooled together to give one
main sample as described by Dick et al,
(1999). This was repeated to obtain replicate
samples.
Physicochemical properties
The pH and temperature of the
various soil samples were read using the
multipurpose tester (Jenway HANNA,
1910). The soil particle size and organic
matter were analyzed using the
sedimentation techniques as described by
Pansu and Guatheyrou, (2006). The total
nitrate, PO4, EC and CEC were determined
as stated in UNEP (2004). The three
elements, Mg, Ca, and K. and moisture
content were assessed as stated by Pansu and
Gontheyrou (2006).
Heavy metals analysis was done according to
UNEP (2004) using Atomic Absorption
spectrophotometer (AAS) HACH/D2/2000).
This was done after proper digestion with
Perchloric acid and HCLO acid..
Microbial analysis
Seven physiological microbial groups
were assessed. These were total
heterotrophic bacteria (THB), nitrifying
bacteria (NB), Phosphate solubilizing
bacteria (PSB), lipolytic bacteria (LB) and
coliforms. Other microbial groups assessed
were Actinomycetes (AC) and Fungi (F).
The estimation of these organisms was based
on the use of selective culture media. The
THB were cultured on Tryptone soy agar,
nitrifying bacteria on modified mineral salt
agar, and coliforms on McConkey Agar
(Nwaugo et al., 2008).
The use of Pikovskaya medium was
for phosphate solubilizing bacteria and
tributyrin agar for lipolytic bacteria.
Sauboroud Dextrose Agar (SDA) was used
for fungi and acidified starch nitrate agar was
used for Actinomyetes.
2
Onwuchekwa et al.
Data Analysis
The results obtained in this study
were subjected to various statistical tools to
determine their level of significance. The
tools used include standard deviation
(Physicochemical parameters), ANOVA
(Microbial diversity) and correlation analytic
(Bioloads and distance).
Results
The physicochemical parameters
results are shown in Table 1. Particle size
analysis results showed higher sand particles
in the 150m and 300m soil samples than the
top portion and control soil, while higher
clay and slit were in the top portion
(P<0.05). The moisture content followed the
silt and clay pattern. Th pH, total NO3,
organic matter and PO4 were highest at the
control followed by the top portion of the
farmland while the 300m portion was acidic,
with lowest organic matter, PO4 and NO3
values. The C/N ratio was highest in the top
portion with the least in the 300m soil. Trace
elements, Ca, Mg. and K had values ranging
from 4.30 to 7.77 mg/g, 2.11 to 4.1mg/g and
6.21 1.0mg/g respectively with lowest
values in the control followed by the top
portion while the 300m soil had the highest
(table 1). The values of the C/N ratio showed
the highest variation in the 300m soil and
lowest in the control, followed by the top
portion of the land.
Analysis of the heavy metal content
showed that the 300m soil had the highest
values of Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn and Pb. While the
control and top porition soil samples had
same Pb values (0.02 mg/g), the other metals
had their lowest values in the control soil
followed by the top porition values of the
heavy metals are shown in Table 2.
Statistical analysis showed positive
correlation with increase in distance from the
top portion i.e. The values of the heavy
metals increased toward the 300m soil
(P<0.05).
Microbial estimation showed that the
THB had the highest count with a range of
5.7 x 104 to 7.5 x 106 cfu/g, followed by the
actinomycetes (4.3 x 104 5.5 x 105 cfu/g)
Int. J. Biotechnol. and Allied Sci.
and the fungal counts ranged of 2.1 x 10 4
3.1 x 105 cfu/g). In all cases, the control had
the highest counts, followed by the top
portion soil while the 300m soil had the
least. The NB had the least counts among the
bacterial groups, followed by the lipolytic
and PSB groups. Coliforms counts ranged
from 2.8 x 103 2.9 x 105 cfu/g. the NB had
a range of 2.7 x 102 3.7 x 104 cfu/g, and the
PSB had 2.4 x 102 1.8 x 105 cfu/g. The
300m soil had the least bacterial counts in
each group of bacteria estimated. The
difference in bacteriological load was found
to follow the distance as increase in distance
from the top portion resulted in lowered
bacterial count (P<0.05).
Discussion
The change in soil particle size
structure in the eroded soil could be
attributed to washing away effect. The rains
could have carried away to lighter and
smaller parts of the soil in its sun off to the
valleys/gully. The higher the volume of
water, the more the effects. Since the
volume was not much at the top portion, not
much was carried away. This agrees with the
views of Ramezanpour et al (2010) and
Battaglia et al, (2002). The depletion of soil
plant nutrients, NO3, PO4 and organic matter
was also due to this carry away effect.
According to Bouma and Imeason, (2000)
and Ghose (2002), most of the soil nutrients
(PO4, NO3 and organic matter) are contained
3
Onwuchekwa et al.
in the silt and clay portions of the soil. This
then follows that whatever affects these
particles will also affect the nutrients too as
observed in this study. This therefore
explains the nutrient values observed in the
top portion of the farmland.
Soil pH is affected by the organic
matter content. According to Sexana and D
Souza, (2009) acidic soil often has low
organic matter. This was the case in this
study. The top portion had alkaline to
neutral pH and had higher organic matter
than the 300m soil with acidic pH. The
agents of the erosion carried away the
organic matter. This resulted in lower C/N
ratio in the eroded and soil portion.
Similarly, the water retaining components of
the soil were the silt and clay which were
eroded in the lower farmland portion; 150
300m soil samples. This accounted for the
low moisture content with distance as the
soil became sandy and could not hold water.
This agrees with Ali et al, (2009) and Zhang
and Nearing (2005) who stated that high
sandy soil has low water holding capacity.
(Bresson, et al, 2007).
EC and CEC were also adversely
affected by the erosion process. The soluble
components of the soil that have effects on
the EC and CEC are found in the organic
matter; silt and clay portions of soil (Nester
et al, 2003, Pelczar et al, 2002). This could
have accounted for the lowered EC and CEC
observed in top soil because the components
Int. J. Biotechnol. and Allied Sci. Onwuchekwa et al.

which acted as buffer (clay, silt and organic micro-organisms or their enzymes (Nwaugo
matter) in the top portion were not there in et al, 2008, Li et al, 2005). Though all the
the 300m soil. The 300m soil therefore various groups of microorganisms occurred
showed higher EC and CEC. This also agrees in all the portions of the farmland, they did
with the views of Saha and Biwas (2007). so at different rates. The THB was the most
prevalent while NB was the least followed
Table 2: Heavy metal concentrations by the PSB and the LB. The THB is a very
of the various soil samples examined complex group which may even include
Heavy Control Top 150m 300m members of the other groups and so was
metal soil portion portion portion
Pb 0.02 0.02 0.04 0.08
higher. The other groups are specialized
Fe 21.2 23.4 30.1 34.6 groups and so are fewer in number hence are
Mn 10.8 16.2 17.3 26.4
Cu 0.04 0.06 0.09 0.17
only fractions of the THB. Similar
Zn 0.53 0.47 0.41 0.36 observation had been made by Nwaugo et al,
(2007, 2008), Li et al (2005) and Saha and
The heavy metals, which in most Biwas (2007) . While Nwaugo et al (2007,
times are in insoluble compounds (Saha and 2008) and Pelczar et al (2002) had stated that
Biwas, 2007) had higher concentrations in NB are very sensitive to environmental
the lower farmland soil samples 150m and changes. Sauza et al (2000) and Ivanova
300m from the top. The removal of the top et al (2006) reported that PSB are equally
soil, exposed the underlying mainly low in any disturbed soil. The exposed soil
insoluble part, hence the heavy metal portion has no lipids (oil) component hence
the low LB load. Little lipids components in

concentration. This observation suggests that
after the top soil has been removed, the
lower soil portion will not be very good for
farming as plants can take up the heavy
metals exposed. This agrees with Mentallion
and Touraine (2004).
Observations in the microbial
diversity showed that the top portion of the
farmland and control had higher microbial
loads than the 150m and 300m soil portions.
This suggests that biogeochemical activities
will be higher in the control and top portion
soil because the biogeochemical
transformations are mediated by either
soil are found in the organic matter (Pelczar
et al, 2002) which was low in the exposed
soil.
Further observations showed that the
actinomycetes and fungi are top soil
dwelling organisms. This is because their
counts were low in the eroded soil. These
organisms do well in high carbon soil with
enough nitrogen source (Webster and
Webster, 2004). The low organic matter
content in the 300m and 150m soil could
have caused the low actinomycetes and
fungal counts. This was also the case with
the coliforms. Pelczar et al, (2002) and

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Int. J. Biotechnol. and Allied Sci.
Prescott et al, (2003) agree that organic
matter provide not only nutrients but also
surface for attachment of the various micro-
organisms. This suggests that soil with low
organic matter content will equally have low
microbial diversity and count, since both
nutrients and attachment surfaces will be
limiting factors.
Results obtained in this study
therefore suggest that the eroded portions of
the Isuikwuato soil may not be very good for
agricultural purposes. This calls for some
farm of remediation, if the soil will serve its
purpose. This is because the major plants
nutrients NO3, PO4 and organic matter are in
low quantities.
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