Abstract:
Maize farm fields were selected in two districts of western Showa, Ethiopia. Four representative maize fields were
selected based on landforms and other physiographic attributes in humid highland and sub humid mid altitude areas
of Toke Kutaye and Bako Tibe Districts. The objective was to characterize and classify the soils under maize
production in Toke Kutaye and Bako Tibe Districts of western Showa, Ethiopia. Four soil profiles were opened and
characterized. Pedons are formed under udic and perudic moisture and iso-thermic temperature regimes for both
districts. The soils were very deep, well-drained reddish brown to dark reddish brown loamy sand to sandy clay
loams, with thick reddish brown loamy sand top and sub soil for Bako Tibe and Toke Kutaye. Three pedons had
clayey top and sub soils. The pH of surface soil ranged from 4.48-5.52 which was very strongly acidic to strongly
acidic. The soil organic carbon contents of the topsoil and subsoil of the four pedons ranged from 2.07 to 2.69% and
0.35 to 2.85 %, which were rated as medium to high, but very low to high respectively. Both two highland pedons
had CEC ranging from 20.06 to 54.17 cmol c kg -1 soil, which was rated as medium to very high, while in the two mid
altitude pedons it ranged from 10.82 to 23.52 cmol c kg -1 soil CEC, which was low to medium. The total nitrogen levels
ranged from 0.19 to 0.23% for topsoils, which was low to medium, and from 0.03 to 0.07 % for subsoils, which was
very low. According to USDA Soil Taxonomy, the four pedons were classified as Typic Palehumults (Acrisols and
Alisols according to WRB). The four pedons were different in physicochemical properties, indicating the need to
characterize soils to give site-specific fertilizer recommendations for maize production.
