Cite this dataset as
Smith, J., Hallett, P., Nayak, D., Boke, S., Habte, M., Yakob, G., Rivington, M., Phimister, E. (2019). Biophysical measurements from Ethiopia's Awassa region during the drought and subsequent floods of 2015-2016. NERC Environmental Information Data Centre. (Dataset). https://doi.org/10.5285/024c5a61-5114-41a6-93b8-e3fb4d24622b
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This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence 
Biophysical measurements from Ethiopia's Awassa region during the drought and subsequent floods of 2015-2016
This dataset contains the biophysical measurements (mineral nitrogen, percent carbon, percent nitrogen, percent soil moisture, particle size analysis and aggregate stability) from soil collected from farmers' fields in the Halaba district, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region in Ethiopia, after the drought of 2015-2016. Eighteen farms from four kebeles (Asore, Lay Arisho, Konicha and 1st Choroko) were sampled. Soil cores were taken from fields classed as "home", "near" and "far" from the homestead and were taken from two depths (0-20cm and 20-50cm). Soil cores were taken after the El Niño event of 2015/16, so reflect the resilience of different areas of the farm to drought. This dataset was collected as part of the NERC-funded project Building Resilience in Ethiopia's Awassa region to Drought (BREAD).
Publication date: 2019-04-16
View record as
Format
Comma-separated values (CSV)
Spatial information
- Study area
-
- Spatial representation type
- Tabular (text)
- Spatial reference system
- OSGB 1936 / British National Grid
Temporal information
- Temporal extent
-
2015-01-01 to 2016-12-31
Provenance & quality
The biophysical measurements were collected from farmers' fields in Halaba District near Hawassa (SNPPR, Ethiopia), after the drought of 2015-2016. Combined with the data provided by the ALTER project (deposited on the EIDC), this provides measurements of soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and water characteristics before and after the drought.
Soil cores were collected from fields classed as "home", "near" and "far" from the homestead. This corresponds to fields at increasing distance from the household, but does not equate to a set distance; it is more a reflection of the typical land uses in the fields.
Measurements are provided at the surface (0-20cm) and below the plough layer (20-50cm). Measurements were collected from fields belonging to farmers with different wealth status (poor medium and rich) in four kebeles (parishes); Eighteen farms were sampled in each kebele.
Percent N and percent C in the soil were measured by CNS elemental analyser, Soil pH was measured using a pH meter, 1:5 in CaCl2.
Mineral N measurements include nitrate, nitrite and ammonium in μmol per g soil. Nitrate and nitrite were determined by measuring absorbance over a period of 5 hours at a wavelength of 540nm. Ammonium was determined using the indophenol method by measuring absorbance for 30 minutes using a 620 nm wavelength.
Soil moisture measurements include the soil moisture content when sampled and at -10 kPa (% by weight). It was not possible to obtain intact cores from Ethiopia or to conduct analysis in country due to equipment availability. Therefore, disturbed soil was repacked into collars and soils were saturated for 48 hours (some were hydrophobic) and then dried to -10 kPa matric potential using a tension table. This potential was selected to represent field capacity due to the sandy nature of this soil.
Particle size and aggregate stability were measured for Asore and Lay Arisho only. The percent silt, sand and clay were determined by Laser-diffraction analysis (LDA). Aggregate stability was determined following the wet-sieving method. Bulk density measurements were not taken. However, pedotransfer functions have been derived from the ALTER measurements that allow bulk density to be determined from soil texture and C content.
Soil cores were collected from fields classed as "home", "near" and "far" from the homestead. This corresponds to fields at increasing distance from the household, but does not equate to a set distance; it is more a reflection of the typical land uses in the fields.
Measurements are provided at the surface (0-20cm) and below the plough layer (20-50cm). Measurements were collected from fields belonging to farmers with different wealth status (poor medium and rich) in four kebeles (parishes); Eighteen farms were sampled in each kebele.
Percent N and percent C in the soil were measured by CNS elemental analyser, Soil pH was measured using a pH meter, 1:5 in CaCl2.
Mineral N measurements include nitrate, nitrite and ammonium in μmol per g soil. Nitrate and nitrite were determined by measuring absorbance over a period of 5 hours at a wavelength of 540nm. Ammonium was determined using the indophenol method by measuring absorbance for 30 minutes using a 620 nm wavelength.
Soil moisture measurements include the soil moisture content when sampled and at -10 kPa (% by weight). It was not possible to obtain intact cores from Ethiopia or to conduct analysis in country due to equipment availability. Therefore, disturbed soil was repacked into collars and soils were saturated for 48 hours (some were hydrophobic) and then dried to -10 kPa matric potential using a tension table. This potential was selected to represent field capacity due to the sandy nature of this soil.
Particle size and aggregate stability were measured for Asore and Lay Arisho only. The percent silt, sand and clay were determined by Laser-diffraction analysis (LDA). Aggregate stability was determined following the wet-sieving method. Bulk density measurements were not taken. However, pedotransfer functions have been derived from the ALTER measurements that allow bulk density to be determined from soil texture and C content.
Related
This dataset is included in the following collections
Data from Building Resilience in Ethiopia's Awassa region to Drought (BREAD) project
Citations
Smith, J., Nayak, D., Albanito, F., Balana, B., Black, H., Boke, S., Brand, A., Byg, A., Dinato, M., Habte, M., Hallett, P., Lemma Argaw, T., Mekuria, W., Moges, A., Muluneh, A., Novo, P., Rivington, M., Tefera, T., Vanni, M., … Phimister, E. (2019). Treatment of organic resources before soil incorporation in semi-arid regions improves resilience to El Niño, and increases crop production and economic returns. In Environmental Research Letters (Vol. 14, Issue 8, p. 085004). IOP Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab2b1b
Smith, J., Nayak, D., Albanito, F., et al. (2019) Treatment of organic resources before soil incorporation in semi-arid regions improves resilience to El Niño, and increases crop production and economic returns. Environmental Research Letters 14, 085004. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab2b1b
Supplemental information
a related socio-economic survey data which is deposited under the IPORE project on the ESRC repository (UK Data Archive. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-853076.)
Correspondence/contact details
Authors
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6984-6766
Nayak, D.
University of Aberdeen
Boke, S.
Southern Agricultural Research Institute, Ethiopia
Habte, M.
Southern Agricultural Research Institute, Ethiopia
Yakob, G.
Southern Agricultural Research Institute, Ethiopia
Rivington, M.
The James Hutton Institute
Other contacts
- Custodian
-
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centreinfo@eidc.ac.uk
- Publisher
-
NERC Environmental Information Data Centreinfo@eidc.ac.uk
Additional metadata
- Topic categories
- biota
- Keywords
- BREAD , fertility zones within the household , NE/P004830/1 , Soil water
- Funding
- Natural Environment Research Council Award: NE/P004830/1
- Last updated
- 18 April 2024 16:34