MONITORING SOIL PROPERTIES CHANGES ASSOCIATED WITH THE APPLIED AGRO-MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN SOME NEWLY RECLAIMED AREAS OF EGYPT | ||||
| Fayoum Journal of Agricultural Research and Development | ||||
| Article 4, Volume 23, Issue 1, January 2009, Page 32-46 PDF (428.27 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Research articles. | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/fjard.2009.197013 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Authors | ||||
| El Sayed A. Khater1; Salah M. Abu El-Enein2; Mohamed A. Hussein2; Mohamed M. A. Hegazy2 | ||||
| 1Soils and Water Dept., Fac. of Agric., El Fayoum University, Egypt | ||||
| 2Soils and Water Dept., Fac. of Agric., Al-Azhar University, Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| This study was an attempt to identify the changes in soil physicochemical properties and nutrients status as associated with agro-management practices in some newly reclaimed areas due to their utilization for agriculture under different land use periods and farming systems. So, three areas that have different soil origins, i.e., fluvio-lacustrine deposits at Sahl El Hussania, aeolian deposits at El Salhia area and marine-lacustrine deposits at Maryut area were selected, and in turn the soils developed on such origins should be differing in the pedo-chemical or physico-chemical characteristics. Furthermore, three soil profiles having an almost similar textural class and differed in land use periods (3-20 years) were selected to represent each one of the studied areas. The obtained results reveal that the soils of the selected three areas differ in their characteristics, particularly soil texture that categorized in fine (clay), coarse (loamy sand) and medium (sandy clay loam) grades for Sahl El Hussania, El Salhia and Maryut areas. Consequently, the response of soil properties; i.e., morphological features, bulk density, total porosity, hydraulic conductivity, available water range, pH, ECe, soluble ions, CEC, ESP, CaCO3 and organic matter contents as well as nutrients status and parametric evaluation index soil productivity limitations; to the actual changes as a result of the applied agro-management practices was more related to many factors, i.e., physiographic position, origin of soil materials (inherited soil features), period of agricultural utilization, characteristics of the grown plants, irrigation water quality, method of irrigation system, efficiency of soil drainage or field drainage system. Also, it is noteworthy to mention that the positive effects due to the applied agro-management practices were differed from an area to another according to the soil nature and environmental conditions, i.e., efficient open drainage system, gypsum application, leaching process and bio-organic fertilization at Sahl El Hussania; application of clayey shales and farmyard manure at El Salhia; accumulation of Ca-humus due to organic fertilization that alleviating the restrictive effect of CaCO3 and efficient tile drainage system at Maryut. Such applied agro-management practices during the longterm land use for agricultural utilization reflected favourable signs on soil properties amelioration, i.e., creating the conductive pores which enhancing the removal of excess soluble salts, modifying the deteriorated soil structure due to either sodicity in the fine texture (Sahl El Hussania area) or the skeletal nature of soil (El Salhia area), creating the suitable air-moisture regime which helped for releasing, mobility and biological activity of essential nutrients uptake mechanism. Such favourable conditions were positively reflected on the vegetative growth of the grown plants as well as their final products. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Newly reclaimed soils; agro-management practices; land use periods for agricultural utilization | ||||
|
Statistics Article View: 55 PDF Download: 92 |
||||
