Evaluations of Soil Fertility Status of Bulala and Harawa Farms of Bale Zone, Ethiopia

A study with the objective of identifying the fertility status of soils under crop production farming system was conducted. For this study, two farms were selected purposively from South Eastern Ethiopia: Bulala farm from Gololcha district and Harawa farm from Ginir district of Bale Zone of Oromia. The two farms were found under the same management conditions and were categorized in blocks prior to the start of the study. Based on this soil samples were collected randomly from blocks of the two farms. Then the collected samples were submitted to Ziway Soil laboratory and were analyzed based on the standard procedure and they fertility status were categorized. The result revealed that the texture of the farms ranged from clay to sandy loam. Soil pH ranged from moderately acidic to moderately alkaline while EC in the very low rate in both farms. Total N was categorized under low to medium range. Organic carbon ranged from low to high while available P ranged from very low to high range. Available K ranged is in the high category. The CEC was grouped under the moderate to the very high category. Regarding the Exchangeable bases, exchangeable Na is categorized as a very low rate while the rates for the K, Ca and Mg were under the high category. Hence, the addition of organic and inorganic fertilizers based on the soil test based results, improving cultural practice to improve CEC and the activity of soil organisms to have the optimum and sustainable productivity of farmlands is advisable