Soil and water conservation actions on erosion hotspot areas of cultivated lands in the Addis Zemen district have been prioritized for over a decade. However, the impact of these treatments on soil physicochemical parameters in different slope classes was neither examined nor quantified. As a result, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of soil and water conservation strategies on specific selected soil parameters on cultivated lands in varied slope gradients at the Michael Deber micro watershed. The experiment was set up in a split-plot design, with three slope classes as the main plot and four conservation measures as subplots that were reproduced three times each. Each plot had composite soil samples collected from 0-20 cm soil depth using a sampling augur, air dried, and prepared for investigation of soil chemical and physical parameters according to conventional lab protocols. The data was analyzed statistically with R software, and significant treatment means were separated using the least significant difference (LSD) at 5%. Clay, MC, pH, CEC, Ex. p, OC, and Av. P were found to be highly substantially (p <0.001) different from the slope locations. As a result, the lower slope position yielded the highest Clay, MC, CEC, Ex. K, OC, and Av. P, whereas the upper slope position yielded the lowest. The difference in sand, bulk density, and TN versus slope position was not statistically significant. Sand and silt, BD, MC, pH, CEC, Ex. K, OC, Av. P and TN were all highly substantially (p0.001) impacted by soil and water conservation strategies. Thus, the highest sand, BD, and pH were measured in non-conserved areas, while the highest MC, CEC, Ex. p, OC, TN, and Av. P was measured in vegetation-stabilized bunds, followed by stone-face soil bunds. The interaction effects of slope position and SWC measures on soil physicochemical parameters, on the other hand, were not significant. Even though slope positions and SWC measures alone had a significant impact on soil physicochemical properties, the status of soil chemical properties was far below the critical level, and the organic matter base of the soil in the watershed must be improved to increase production and productivity of the soil in the study watershed.

SWC measures, soil physicochemical properties, split-plot design, slope classes