Author(s)

Saman M. K. Rasheed^*

Department of Soil and Water Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Sulaimani University, Sulaimani, Iraq.

Land use changes from natural ecosystems into managed ecosystems resulted in negative impact on soil structure and quality. The purpose of this study was to determine the influences of different land-use types on physical and chemical properties of soils in Sulaimani governorate. Land use systems including natural forest, pastureland and agriculture were identified. Ten of soil samples were collected from the 0 - 30 cm depth, and some soil physical and chemical properties of soil were determined. The land use alters from forest to agriculture resulting in significant decrease in organic matter, calcium carbonate and soil surface area and with this change, dispersion ratio affected on the physical property. The value of DR was highest in the Zrguezi Gawra cultivated with Cucumber and the lowest value in Dukan is 13%, and correlation coefficient between dispersion DR with sand, silt and bulk density is positive, value is (0.4979, 0.0126 and 0.7536) respectively, and with clay and specific surface area (SSA) the correlation coefficient value is (-0.7281 and -0.4466).

Particle Size Distribution, Dispersion Ratio, Bulk Density, Organic Matter

Rasheed, S. (2016) The Effect of Clay Content and Land Use on Dispersion Ratio at Different Locations in Sulaimani Governorate—Kurdistan Region—Iraq. Open Journal of Soil Science, 6, 1-8. doi: 10.4236/ojss.2016.61001.