No abstract

A GRICULTURAL utilization of desert marginal soils at El Fayoum Governorate edges is of importance to support the local farmer ' s incomes, particularly under the best and suitable management practices of land and available water resources. A newly reclaimed soil encompassing by Eocene limestone at the eastern edge of Tamia District was a matter of concern in this work. It is a sandy clay loam in texture, moderately saline, non-sodic, and calcareous in nature with a subsurface diagnostic horizon of calcigypsic one, and classified as Typic Calcigypsids, fine loamy, mixed, heperthermic, moderately deep. According to a parametric system, it could be evaluated as moderately suitable (S2ws1s2s3n), with soil limitations of wetness, soil depth, salinity/alkalinity and CaCO 3 content, with an intensity degree for each, lies in the range of slight to moderate (rating = 90-80).

The main purpose of this work was to evaluate the possible use of humic acid mixed with the irrigation water through a drip irrigation system to alleviate the harmful effects of salinity stress on growth, fruit yield and quality of tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum, c.v. 1077 hybrid). To achieve this target a field experiment was carried out on a private farms at Sedmant El Gabal village, Beni-Suef Governorate, Egypt, which represents one of the those are occupying the desert zone adjacent to the western edge of the Nile Valley during two successive seasons of 2005-2006 and 2006-2007. Two irrigation water resources were used, i.e., the Nile water (C1S1, ECiw = 0.56 dS/m and SAR = 2.13) and a mixture of agricultural drainage saline water with the Nile water at a ratio of about 1:1 (C2S1, ECiw = 1.89 dS/m and SAR = 5.35). Humic acid was applied at rates of 75, 150 and 225 mg/L through a drip irrigation system twice/week and for a period of 4 months after transplanting.The obtained data reveal that the studied soil is mainly encompassing the wind blown sand deposits as a parent material, and it is classified as Typic Torripsamments, siliceous, hyperthermic and it could be evaluated as marginally suitable. The results also show that usage of saline water resulted in relative increases of the ECe and ESP values in the root zone reached 18.95 and 33.09 % as compared to the initial state of soil, respectively. Meanwhile, the corresponding relative increases of the ECe in case of amended saline irrigation water with humic acid at rates 0. 75, 150 and 225 mg/L were 11.75, 5.09 and 2.98 %, vs 10.84, 3.76 and 1.73 % for the ESP values, respectively, with its optimal case at a rate of 225 mg/L. Moreover, the applied humic acids played an important role in improving the values of soil bulk density, total porosity, available water and hydraulic conductivity, organic matter content, pH, CEC and available nutrients. The latter may be due to modified airmoisture regime that leads to alleviate the depressive effect of salinity stress on the released nutrient from organic residues.These favourable conditions of the improved soil due to amended irrigation water positively reflected on the vegetative growth and flowering parameters of tomato plants, i.e., plant height, number of leaves/plant, thickness of stem/plant at soil surface, number of branches/plant, leaf area, number of inflorescences/plant, number of flowers/inflorescence, dry weight/plant, and the chlorophyll a & b contents. It is evidently that such beneficial effect of humic acid on the dry matter productions was more attributed to the leaves area and number, which are contributed to more photosynthesis and better carbohydrates yield. Also, the ability of humic acid for increasing plant nutrient uptake is due to its chelating property. Moreover, the applied humic acid at all the different rates resulted in significant increases for N, P and K in tomato leaves. The reverse was true for Na and Cl, probably due to alleviate the harmful effect of saline irrigation water...

ABSRACTA field experiment was conducted on clayey soil at Kom Abou-Khallad village, Nasser district, Bani-Suef Governorate, Egypt during the winter season of 2014/2015. This study was conducted to identify the effect of applied vermicompost at rates 2.5, 3.3 and 4 Mg fed -1 , magnetite at rates 100, 150 and 200 k.g fed -1 and Sugar industry wastes (a mixture of the Filter Mud and Sugar lime wastes with a ratio of about 1:1) at rates 6.7, 10 and 13.3 Mg fed -1 as either solely or combined treatments, on some soil properties as well as the vegetative growth, nutritional status and yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv Bani-Suef 5). The suitability class of the used irrigation water is C3S1 (ECiw = 2.08 dS/m and SAR= 7.12) for Baha drainage water.The obtained results of the investigated soil indicated that, the values of EC, ESP and pH, were decreased with application of vermicompost, magnetite and sugar industry wastes. These decreases varied from treatment to another, the best treatment was found to be (T 10 = filter mud + sugar lime (1:1) w/w (13.3 Mg fed -1 ) and T 13 = filter mud + sugar lime (1:1) (6.7 Mg fed -1 ) + vermicompost) as compared to the other combined or solely ones. However, the treatments effect on OM% and CEC have the opposite trend since their combination caused increase of OM and CEC values. Also, application of vermicompost, magnetite and Sugar industry wastes were more pronounced in decreasing soil bulk density, and increasing both hydraulic conductivity, total porosity and soil moisture content values. The obtained data emphasized that the achieved enhancing soil properties were positively reflected on the nutrient contents of plant tissues and plant parameters. (grain and straw yields).So that, it could be recommended that applications of vermicompost, magnetite and sugar industry wastes should be used to alleviate the hazardous effects of a saline soil or saline irrigation water. In addition, such favourable conditions should be enhance continuous biological activity and nutrients slow release along the growth stages of wheat plants, and in turn to minimize their possible losses by either leaching or volatilization processes. This approach represents a best