Soil Moisture Variability in Newly Implemented Agricultural Bench Terraces in Tigray Region, Ethiopia

The effectiveness of radical bench terracing in reducing drought risk is dependent on its correct implementation. However, it is still not clear how proper or improper terracing implementation can impact the landscape capacity of holding soil moisture. In addition to this, the spatial patterns of Soil Water Content (SWC) within the same terraced hillslope are understudied. The present work analyses the variability of SWC in four newly implemented terraced hillslopes in Tigray Region, Northern Ethiopia. In all sites, terraced areas show SWC significantly higher than nonterraced ones, with the lowest part of the terraced hillslope more humid than the others. A Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) analysis highlighted significant dependency of SWC from the date of sampling, the position in the terraced slope, and its significant positive correlation with the percent of Water Stable Aggregates (WSA). Since high soil disturbance can induce low soil aggregates stability, this result shows how low soil disturbance can significantly increase SWC of radical terraces. Overall, the results of the present study testify the good performances of bench terraces in Northern Ethiopia in terms of soil water conservation and can represent a guideline for informing future terracing implementation in some arid and semi-arid agricultural areas of the world.