Assessment of Soil Suitability for Improvement of Soil Factors and Agricultural Management

Abd-Elmabod, Sameh Kotb; Bakr, Noura; Muñoz-Rojas, Miriam; Pereira, Paulo; Zhang, Zhenhua; Cerdà, Artemi; Jordán, Antonio; Mansour, Hani; De la Rosa, Diego; Jones, Laurence

doi:10.3390/su11061588

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Assessment of Soil Suitability for Improvement of Soil Factors and Agricultural Management

Sameh Kotb Abd-Elmabod

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Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China

Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH-Bangor), Environment Centre Wales, Deiniol Road, Bangor LL57 2UW, UK

Soil and Water Use Department, Agricultural and Biological Research Division, National Research Centre, Cairo 12622, Egypt

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MED_Soil Research Group, Department of Crystallography, Mineralogy and Agricultural Chemistry, Seville University, 41012 Seville, Spain

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Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

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School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia

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Environmental Management Centre, Mykolas Romeris University, Ateities, Vilnius LT-08303, Lithuania

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Soil Erosion and Degradation Research Group, Department of Geography, Valencia University, 46010 Valencia, Spain

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Water Relations and Field Irrigation Department, Agricultural and Biological Research Division, National Research Centre, Cairo 12622, Egypt

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Earth Sciences Section, Royal Academy of Sciences, 41012 Seville, Spain

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Sustainability 2019, 11(6), 1588; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11061588

Received: 12 February 2019 / Revised: 12 March 2019 / Accepted: 12 March 2019 / Published: 15 March 2019

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Use of Soils and Water: the Role of Environmental Land Use Conflicts)

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Abstract

The dramatic growth of the world’s population is increasing the pressure on natural resources, particularly on soil systems. At the same time, inappropriate agricultural practices are causing widespread soil degradation. Improved management of soil resources and identification of the potential agricultural capability of soils is therefore needed to prevent further land degradation, particularly in dryland areas such as Egypt. Here, we present a case study in the El-Fayoum depression (Northern Egypt) to model and map soil suitability for 12 typical Mediterranean crops. Two management scenarios were analyzed: the current situation (CS) and an optimal scenario (OS) of soil variables. The Almagra model was applied to estimate soil suitability under CS and OS. Management options based on the CS assessment were proposed to reduce some limiting factors: a fixed value of 2 dSm⁻¹ for soil salinity and 5% for sodium saturation; these defined the OS. Under optimal management, the OS scenario showed potential, where a notable increase of the area covered by a high suitability class (around 80%) for annual and semi-annual crops was observed. There was also a marked increase (about 70% for CS and 50% for OS) for perennial crops shifting from the marginal to moderate soil suitability class. The results reveal the importance of proper management to massively alter soil suitability into better states in order to achieve sustainable land use in this fertile agro-ecosystem. View Full-Text

Keywords: sustainable agriculture; MicroLEIS DSS; land-use planning; soil reclamation

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Abd-Elmabod, S.K.; Bakr, N.; Muñoz-Rojas, M.; Pereira, P.; Zhang, Z.; Cerdà, A.; Jordán, A.; Mansour, H.; De la Rosa, D.; Jones, L. Assessment of Soil Suitability for Improvement of Soil Factors and Agricultural Management. Sustainability 2019, 11, 1588. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11061588

AMA Style

Abd-Elmabod SK, Bakr N, Muñoz-Rojas M, Pereira P, Zhang Z, Cerdà A, Jordán A, Mansour H, De la Rosa D, Jones L. Assessment of Soil Suitability for Improvement of Soil Factors and Agricultural Management. Sustainability. 2019; 11(6):1588. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11061588

Chicago/Turabian Style

Abd-Elmabod, Sameh K., Noura Bakr, Miriam Muñoz-Rojas, Paulo Pereira, Zhenhua Zhang, Artemi Cerdà, Antonio Jordán, Hani Mansour, Diego De la Rosa, and Laurence Jones. 2019. "Assessment of Soil Suitability for Improvement of Soil Factors and Agricultural Management" Sustainability 11, no. 6: 1588. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11061588

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