Assessing of Land Resources for Agriculture Development in the Western Side of El-Dakhla Oases, Egypt | ||||
| Journal of Soil Sciences and Agricultural Engineering | ||||
| Article 6, Volume 10, Issue 3, March 2019, Page 187-198 PDF (590.92 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/jssae.2019.36702 | ||||
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| Author | ||||
| I. Hegab | ||||
| Soils, Water & Environment Res. Inst. Giza, Egypt. | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| The studied area is located between latitudes 26˚ 20ˋ & 25˚ 30ˋ N and Longitudes 27˚ 55ˋ & 28˚ 20ˋ E. covering an area of about 530445 feddans. The area is being reclaimed now to be a link between EL-Dakhla and Abu Mnqar Oases western Desert of Egypt. The present study aims to identify the physiographic futures and evaluating the agricultural potentiality of the soils in the study area to determine the most appropriate land use. To achieve this objective Sentinel 2 images, digital elevation model and data limited to land surveying were used for delineating the region's main physiographic units in the study area are plateau (( pL 11)), Bajada (P13), Solutional depression (P12), Pedi plain (P11), Sand sheets (P21), and sand dunes (P22). Sixteen soil profiles plus a number of auger observations and 120 minipits were selected to represent the different mapping units. A field work and morphological description were carried out and soil samples were collected for demonstrating the physical and chemical soil properties beside six water samples were collected from six wells. The results indicated that the studied soil profiles were classified according to (USDA, 2014) and could be categorized into two orders. Aridisols, Entisols and six sub great groups as follows. i) Aridisols including three sub great groups of Typic Haplosalids, Gypsic Haplosalids and Calcic Haplosalids. ii) Entisols include three sub great groups of Typic Torripsamments, Typic Quartzipsamments and Typic Torriorthents. The water wells in the studied area have a high quality as the salinity is not exceed 0.301 dSm-1 and sodium adsorption ratios were less than 1.12 in all water samples. Land capability classes were performed using Sys & Verheye (1978) and Sys etal (1991). The current for agriculture irrigated soils could be categorized into two classes fair soils (III) and poor soils (IV) grades, which are suffering from some soil properties i.e, soil texture, soil profile depth, CaCO3 , Salinity and Alkalinity as soil limitations with different intensity degrees (moderate to severe). By executing the suitable soil improvement practices, the potential suitability classes assessed two classes, i.e good soils (II) and fair soils (III) grades. The severity can be corrected by application of organic and inorganic soil amendments, salt leaching and levelling of undulating surface. Also, Soil suitability for specific crops i. e. (wheat, maize, beans, barley, cabbage, potato, watermelon, onion, olives, citrus, guava and banana) were presented for soils developed on the identified physiographic units in land suitability guide tables. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| physiographic units; Remote Sensing (RS); GIS; Soil Taxonomy; Land evaluation | ||||
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