The study focused on the Effects of Flooding on Soil Quality in Abakaliki Agro-ecological Zone of South-Eastern State, Nigeria, for proper soil and flood management to avert soil degradation. Soil samples were collected from three different floodplains and from arable land at the middle of the stream as control at the depth of 0-30cm, and were used for the determination of the selected soil quality. The treatments were replicated five times and data collected were analyzed using analysis of variance for complete randomized (CRD). All the soil properties assessed were significantly different (p<0.05) among the study locations. The results further showed that apart from sand, BD, gravimetric moisture that were higher in control, silt, clay and porosity were recorded highest mean values than control. Mean pH in floodplains recorded mean value of 5.9 being acidic than control with the mean of pH5.38. Also apart from Avail.P(38.50ppm),OC(1.89cmol/kg), Nitrogen (0.15cmol/kg), ECEC(18.16%) and BS(89.65%) being higher in control than floodplains, the mean of OM (2.5cmol/kg), Ca (10.5cmol/kg), Mg(4.7cmol/kg),K(0.14cmol/kg), Na(1.06cmol/kg) and EA(2.07) were higher in floodplains than control, which could support farming during flood cessation for increased food productions. Based on the results, it is recommended that flood best management practice should be encouraged in order to retain soil nutrients, reduce soil and water pollutions for ecosystem sustainability.
Keywords: Agro, Ecological Zone, Ecosystem sustainability, Flood, Soil Quality
