Population increase and low input agriculture in south eastern Nigeria has resulted to
forest conversion to arable land. A study was conducted in six locations; Ugbo-lyOkpara
( L1), Ugbo-nabo (L2) , Ugwogo-Nike (L3) , Iyi-Ukwu (L4) , Edem( L5) and Ngwo (L6) in
Enugu State, southeastern Nigeria to determine the changes in selected soil physical
properties ( particle size distribution, bulk density, hydraulic conductivity, macro porosity
micro porosity and total porosity) as a result of converting forests to arable
land..Cultivation resulted to significant (P ? 0.05) increase in the sand fractions and bulk
density. Result showed decline in silt fraction, hydraulic conductivity, macro, micro and
total porosity by 4, 17.5, 38, 26, 19 and 21% respectively. Interaction of location and
land use indicated that 67% of the locations were adversely affected by cultivation while
33% of the locations indicated improvement in soil properties in favor of cultivation
expressed by a significantly (P ? 0.05) lower bulk density in Ugbo-Okpara , higher micro
and total porosity in Ugbo-nabo , higher clay content in Ugbo-Okpara and Ugbo-nabo ,
while 19 % and 13 % higher silt content were observed in Ugbo-Okpara, and UgwogoNike
respectively..The study revealed that the magnitude and direction of change was
location specific.