Soil Potentialities as Useful Mean for Planning Agricultural Development in Sahl Baraka, Farafra Oasis, New Valley, n. Land Suitability Assessment for some Crops

摘要

THE CURRENT work was conducted to investigate the main soil characteristics that refer to the promising possibilities for expansion and economical agriculture in "Sahl Baraka" area, Farafra oasis. Forty-two soil profiles covering about 10.000 feddan in Sahl Baraka were selected for this study. Soil parameters for land suitability evaluation have been determined, besides the climatological data have been collected to estimate the suitability index in each site.The obtained results showed that calcium carbonate; gypsum, the effective soil depth and salinity of the studied profiles were considered as the main factors controlling the suitability of five selected crops in the area. According to the estimated capability indices, the soils of the studied area were grouped into four capability classes, i.e., II, III, IV and V.The suitability assessment of the profiles revealed that; 11% of the area are considered suitable soils; 42% are moderately suitable; 33% are marginally suitable and 14% of the studied area are unsuitable soils for barley, sorghum, potato, olive and citrus. Moderately, marginally or even unsuitable soils due to the presence of salinity limitation due to their sandy texture can easily change their order to higher one because of the availability of a very good quality of irrigation water supply. Soils with a very shallow effective soil depth, can easily be excluded from the cultivation program and it is recommended for other utilities or for infrastructure. Soils with calcium carbonate limitations can be cultivated with tolerant crops (sorghum, barley, grape and groundnuts) and controiling the fertilizer management through proper amendment of nutrient by means of foliar application.