"Technical Report" The Effects of Land use Change on Some Physical and Chemical Properties of Soil (Case Study: Babolrood watershed)

Land use change is an important issue in Iran, especially in the north of the country. In the present research, effect of changing land use from rangeland to cropland and garden on some physical and chemical characteristics of soil, was studied in Babolrood Watershed in southern part of Babol, Eastern Bandpey in Mazandaran province. For each land use, soil samples were collected from 2 depths at 4 replicates and the data were statistically analyzed by factorial test using a randomized complete block design. Results indicated that the highest percentage of sand, silt and clay in garden, Rangeland and Cropland, respectively. Change from rangeland to cropland, significantly increased bulk density and the bulk density in the lower layer was higher than that in the surface layer. The most amount of porositywas observed in the garden lands at a rate of 54.87 percent.The highest Aggregate stability was obtained for rangeland, garden and highest water holding capacity was observed at the depth of 20-40 cm, (64.62 percent). The highest saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) of the soil was in garden.  Furthermore land use change resulted in change in soil reaction content, so that the highest amount of it was 7.54 in cropland. The highest soil electrical conductivity (EC) was in garden. The highest percentage of organic carbon (OC) was in the surface layer, at a rate of 2.47 percent in garden and the lowest percentage of it was in the subsurface layer at a rate of 0.26 percent in cropland. The result of this study regarding the above comparing some soil quality properties showed that the change of land use to cropland usage and as result of severity of agriculture operation, have an negative impact on soil properties.