Soil fertility status of some agricultural areas in el-Kharaga oasis, new valley, Egypt

الملخص EN

Macro elements availability in soils is an important aspect in context of soil fertility and agricultural productivity.

this study was performed to determine the levels of some macro elements availability in el-Kharga oasis soils, new valley, Egypt.

to achieve this goal, hundred surface soil samples (0-30 cm) were collected from el-Kharga and barisoasis, new valley, Egypt.

the collected soil samples were subjected for chemical analyses.

the obtained results showed that the dominant problems are salinity and low organic matter content, the summarized data showed that 35% of the samples have low available nitrogen and 65% have medium nitrogen which was associated with low organic matter (100% of the samples have less than 1% om).

however 91% of the samples have high available p(˃15mg/kg), where as 5% and 4% of the samples were categorized as low and medium available p.

also, 98% of the samples were high in available potassium and only 2% were medium.

the high content of available p and k may be resulted from the parent material of el-Kharga oasis.

according to ECE, 49% of the samples have ECE less than 4dsm-1, 51% of the samples were higher than 4dsm-1, (21% medium, 16% high and 14% very high).

considering the soil pH and ECe, the results showed that 42% of the samples were non saline, 50% were saline, 6% were sodic soil and only 2%were saline sodic soils.