Mapping Soil Properties and Land Evaluation for Agricultural Purposes, El Alamein Area, the North-Western Coast, Egypt

Abstract

Land evaluation is a necessary tool in reclamation and cultivation of new lands. North-western coast represents one of the promising locations for sustainable agricultural development in Egypt. Therefore, the main objective of this work was to evaluate lands for agricultural purposes in the study area using the agriculture land evaluation system for arid and semi-arid regions (ALES-arid) model. Twenty-four locations for soil surface (0 -30 cm) and subsurface (30 -60 cm) samples (total samples are 48), and one irrigation water sample were collected and analyzed. GIS techniques were used to produce maps of soil properties and land evaluation. The results showed that soil texture was sandy loam, soil pH ranged from 7.9 to 8.5, and CaCO3 was high. Concerning land evaluation, the fair capability class (C3) occupied all the studied area. The limiting factors which affected the land evaluation were the low contents of clay and cation exchange capacity, and high soil alkalinity. Regarding soil suitability evaluation for twelve crops, the studied area was highly suitable (S1) for alfalfa (71%) and tomato (68%). Moderately suitable (S2) for barley (100%), wheat, sunflower, and onion (75%). Marginally suitable (S3) for faba bean (75%), sorghum (64%), maize, soybean, peanut, and potato (68%). The use of mapping land evaluation can help decision-makers regarding new land reclamation projects.