Evaluation of the relationship between infiltration rate and some soil properties in different land use

The most influential factors for all conditions where the best performance in infiltration surveys is achieved are soil properties and land use type. Soil infiltration capacity is an important soil parameter and also a good indicator of soil quality and soil fertility. Therefore, a detailed understanding of infiltration properties is required for soils under different land use complexes. In this study, the effect of soil properties under different land uses on infiltration values was investigated. Disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were taken from 30 points determined by GPS from 3 different regions (pasture, fallow and orchard) within the borders of Çubuk district of Ankara province. Infiltration rate (with Minidisk infiltrometer) and bulk density were measured in undisturbed soil samples and hydraulic conductivity and sorptivity values were obtained from infiltration measurements. Basic physical and chemical soil analyzes and morphological descriptions were made in disturbed soil samples. In order to digitize the morphological features, the coding system created with the help of land soil identification cards was used.According to the measurement results, the highest infiltration rate values were recorded in the orchard samples and the lowest values were recorded in the samples taken from the pasture area. Correlation analysis, one-way ANOVA and factor analyzes were used to evaluate the relationships between soil variables measured in different land uses and infiltration rate. Infiltration rate showed the highest correlation with sorptivity (0.72), sand (0.69), and hydraulic conductivity (0.86) in pasture, fallow and orchard, respectively. Average infiltration rates were found different in these soils. In addition, infiltration rates in different land uses were loaded on the same factors with different soil variables. Due to different land management practices, such additional measurements need to be made in order to accurately assess the potential impacts of land use and land management changes on agricultural activities.