Impact of the Present Land Use and Environmental Conditions on Agricultural Development at Wadi Sannur, Beni Suef, EGYPT | ||||
| Alexandria Science Exchange Journal | ||||
| Article 12, Volume 32, APRIL- JUNE - Serial Number 2, June 2011, Page 205-214 PDF (524.26 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/asejaiqjsae.2011.2419 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Authors | ||||
| Mohamed K. A. Abd El-Samie; Mohamed E. A. Khalifa | ||||
| Pedology Dept., Desert water resources and land, Desert Research Center, Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Sustainable agricultural development at newly reclaimed regions is strongly affected by environmental adaptability of applied land uses. Studied area located over five thousand feddans at Wadi Sannur down stream area which considered one of the most promising sites for agriculture development at Beni Suef governorate. Reclamation was partially undertaken since 1985 till now, due to existing of some limiting factors for land productivity and some utilization problems. This study aimed to assess land use alternatives based on land productivity and suitability, in addition, to investigate current environmental conditions and land utilization methods in the studied area. Thirty soil profiles were studied to represent soils of the area, and soil sampling was performed for further laboratory analysis. Results indicated that soils of the area were classified as Typic Torripsamments or Lithic Torripsamments which including 6 mapping units varying in both soil depth and texture class. The most dominant soil mapping unit in the area was over 32.4 % for deep medium over coarse texture soils. Productivity of the studied area soils classified into four classes; fair over 32.4%, poor over 32.3%, and very poor over 17.9% of the total area, while 17.4% of the area considered not valid for agricultural land uses. Type of limiting elements for productivity varied widely from site to others. In conclusion rough topography, rocky patches, shallow depth, coarse texture, low clay content, high gravels and weathered rock fragment contents, high salinity, high lime content, and general poor fertility are the main limitations. The study identified date palm, olive, guava and pommel as the successful land use alternatives in the area, in addition to some vegetables like onion and garlic. The suitability of olive trees as current land use was classified into three classes; marginal suitability over 67.7 %, currently non suitable over 17.9 % and permanently non suitable over 17.4 % of the total area. Current results were compared with corresponding soil data at 2001 which emphasized on the affection of current land use on soil properties such as fertility enhancement due to fertilization and subsurface salt accumulation due to leaching by irrigation. Field investigation revealed that deterioration which affected roads, irrigation canals and electrical services in the studied area. Based on the incorporation of evaluation results between land properties with environmental conditions, the study recommend the spreading of olive trees at non reclaimed locations with optimizing land use through temporal utilization rights. 4.2pt'>The model tried to simulate field conditions associated to leaching of salty calcareous soils, but nutrients levels have to be carefully monitored to sustain healthy plant growth, and it is usually not advisable to leach if the resulting soil will be sodic or alkali, where such soils should receive amendments before being leached. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Land Evaluation; land use; Land suitability; Wadi Sannur | ||||
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