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Extent and distribution of surface soil acidity in the rainfed areas of Ethiopia
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  • Gizaw Desta,
  • Tibebu Kassawmar,
  • Matebu Tadesse,
  • Gete Zeleke
Gizaw Desta
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics-Ethiopia

Corresponding Author:g.desta@cgiar.org

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Tibebu Kassawmar
Addis Ababa University
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Matebu Tadesse
Addis Ababa University
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Gete Zeleke
Addis Ababa University
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Abstract

The soil acidity level is a key soil characteristic that determines soil nutrient availability, soil microbial activities and crop growth. However, studies on distribution and extent of soil acidity in Ethiopia are not available. This study was carried out to predict the extent and severity of soil acidity. The study used 88,265 soil pH samples collected from soil laboratories and 21,439 samples compiled from studies. Rainfall, altitude, slope gradient, soil, and land cover were considered to generate spatial autocorrelation and integrated into geospatial analysis to predict the soil pH. The performance of the kriging model was found to be satisfactory with a standard error of 0.77, RMSE of 0.51, and R2 of 0.74. The model estimates showed that 47% and 30.2% of the country’s total area and rainfed areas were acidic (pH<6.5), respectively. Out of the total area of the country, 3.7% is found to be extremely to strongly acidic (pH<5.5), 20.7% is moderately acidic (5.6
12 Jul 2021Submitted to Land Degradation & Development
13 Jul 2021Submission Checks Completed
13 Jul 2021Assigned to Editor
14 Jul 2021Reviewer(s) Assigned
01 Aug 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
03 Aug 2021Editorial Decision: Revise Major
02 Sep 20211st Revision Received
03 Sep 2021Submission Checks Completed
03 Sep 2021Assigned to Editor
15 Sep 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
23 Sep 2021Editorial Decision: Accept
02 Nov 2021Published in Land Degradation & Development. 10.1002/ldr.4113