Abstract            Volume:8  Issue-10  Year-2020         Original Research Articles

Online ISSN : 2347 - 3215 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcret@gmail.com

This study was conducted at Agamsa watershed in Habru District, Northeastern Ethiopia, to assess the soil macronutrient status and mapping its spatial distribution. Nine composite soil samples were collected based on the variability of land at 0 to 30cm soil depth. The texture, bulk density (BD), pH, OM, total N, available P,and exchangeable basic cations like K, Ca, Mg and Na, and CEC content in the samples were determined following the standard analytical procedures. Arc GIS 10.1 was used for soil fertility mapping and soil test values at other locations were interpolated using ordinary Kriging. The result showed thatthe soil textural class was clay loam. The highest soil BD was 1.37 g cm-3 whereas the lowest was1.22 g cm-3. The soil was moderately acidic to neutral in pH. The highest and lowest values of total N were 0.21% and 0.06%, respectively while that of OM ranged from 1.17% to 3.71%. The highest and lowest values of available P were 9.65mg kg-1and 2.5 mg kg-1, respectively. The relative abundance of basic cations in soil was dominated by Ca followed by Mg, K, and Na and the values ranged from 20.38 to 31.72, 8.92 to 12.08, 0.29 to 0.59, and 0.27 to 0.45cmolckg-1, respectively. The highest and lowest values of CEC were 53.10cmolc kg-1 and 36.94cmolc kg-1. The result showed that soils of the study area had good physical fertility status. However, farmers should practice crop rotation, minimize the removal of crop residues, and use organic and inorganic fertilizers to improve the soil quality and its productivity. Moreover, nutrient supplying powers of the soils and demanding levels of the plants need further correlation and calibration works to come up with site-soil-crop specific fertilizer recommendation.

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