Informations et ressources scientifiques
sur le développement des zones arides et semi-arides

Titre : Land Evaluation of the Middle Part of Wadi Qena, Eastern Desert, Egyp

Auteur : Attia, Mahmoud Kamal Kamel.

Etablissement de soutenance : Assuit University

Grade : Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Agricultural Science 2021

Résumé partiel
Wadi Qena is one of the largest dry valleys in the eastern desert of Egypt for the agricultural expansion. It is located east of Qena city and constitutes the western part of eastern desert plateau. The investigated area is located in the middle part of wadi Qena, eastern desert, Egypt. It is limited between longitudes 32° 44ꞌ to 32° 49ꞌ E and latitudes 26° 30ꞌ to 26° 36ꞌ N. It lies the north of the proposed Golden triangle, about 135 km from Sohag city and about 83 km from Safaga city. It extends for 60 km starting from the intersection of Sohag-Qena-Safaga highways at the middle part of the wadi Qena. The total study area is about 62.171 km2 representing nearly 6217.1 hectares (about 14796.7 feddans). The study area is considered one of the most favorable areas for agricultural expansion.

The current study aims to : 1- Investigate the soil properties of the middle part of wadi Qena, eastern desert, Egypt, 2- Classify the soils of this area according to Soil taxonomy (Soil Survey Staff, 2014), 3- Evaluate its capability using the the applied system of land evaluation (ASLE) (Ismail and Morsi, 2001) and the modified Storie index (O’Geen et al., 2008), 4- Assess its suitability for growing crops under irrigated agriculture using the applied system of land evaluation (ASLE) and the rating classes suggested by Sys et al. (1991 and 1993).

To fulfill the objectives of the study, forty-nine soil profiles were selected to represent and cover the area under study. The points of the soil profiles of the investigated area were located using the Global Position System (GPS). All soil profiles were morphologically described according to the standard procedure and terminology as reported by FAO (2006) and Schoenberger et al. (2012) and 133 soil samples were collected from the different layers of all investigated soil profiles according to vertical morphological variations. The soil samples were subjected to different laboratory analysis. Land productivity use is controlled by the soil physical and chemical characteristics of the investigated soil profiles and their spatial distribution. Spatial data of soil profile properties were presented as individual maps by GIS (e.g. texture, bulk density, salinity, soil pH, calcium carbonate contents, gypsum, CEC and ESP as well as available N, P and K. According to the US Soil Taxonomy (Soil Survey Staff, 2014), the soils of the study area were classified down to the soil family level. All maps of soil properties, land capability, land suitability were produced using Agric. GIS 10.8 software (ESRI, 2019).

Présentation étendue (EULC)