Prediction of Soil Erosion of Imo State Soils by Their Infiltration Rates.

: The soil erosion and infiltration rates/capacities of five different soil groups in Imo State Nigeria namely: Rhodic ferrasols, Eutric nitosols, Lithosols, Eutric gleysols and Dystric ferrasols were investigated / measured. The final infiltration rates of these soils after prolonged wetting were determined. The amount of soil erosion from these soil groups under known rainfall intensities and runoff rates were also measured. Some soil physical properties of the soils (bulk density, porosity, permeability and grain size distribution) were also measured. The infiltration capacities of the soil groups and the amount of soil erosion from the soil groups were compared. The infiltration rates from these five soil groups ranged from 132mm/hr to 820mm/hr for the Rhodic ferrasols, while that of Eutric nitosols ranged from 5.64mm/hr to 450mm/hr. The infiltration rates for the Dystric ferrasols ranged from 82.8 mm/hr to 192mm/hr. The infiltration rates for the Lithosols ranged from 43.2 mm/hr to 180mm/hr. The range for the Eutric gleysols was from 46mm/hr to 276mm/hr. The erosion from the soils (sediment concentration) were in the average of 150g/l, 280g/l, 750g/l, 1008g/l, and 1250g/l for the Rhodic ferrasols, Eutric nitosols, Lithosols, Eutric gleysols and Dystric ferrasols respectively. From this study, the soils of Imo State with higher infiltration capacities had lower soil erosion. Therefore, the infiltration capacities of these soils may be used to assess or predict the erosion rates of Imo State soils.