Summary and subsurface (25 50 cm) soil samples were collected from a loamy sand area (classified as Lithic Quartzipsamments) where sewage effluents of Cairo City have been used in irrigation for 23 and 47 years and were tested for their levels of organic matter, P, N, B, Cd, Co~ Cr, Cu, and Pb.The use of sewage effluents in irrigation, year after year, markedly increased available phosphorus and both total and soluble nitrogen in soil. The increase was also observed with respect to water soluble boron and total and DTPA-extractable heavy metals. The surface layers contained higher amounts of elements than the subsurface ones.We conclude that use of Cairo sewage effluents in irrigating the loamy sand soil has markedly increased the levels of heavy metals in soil and attention should be focused on their accumulation in fruit of citrus.
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