Assessment of soil fertility and suitability for some crops using gis and remote sensing techniques

Abstract EN

The study area is about 95311ha, it was implemented as a case study in the Nile Delta, where the indicators of soil fertility, suitability and capacity were examined.

The area includes the centers of Kafr El-Sheikh, Desouq, Qaleen and Fouh in the Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, which is between the longitudes of 30^o30` to 31<sup>o</sup>02`E, and between the two latitudes 31^o00` to 31<sup>o</sup> 20` north.

Ten soil profiles were dug and classified as TypicAquisalids, TypicNatrargids, TypicTorrifluvents, and VerticTorrifluvents, represent 1.60% , 1.73% , 34.04% and 53.38% of the total area, respectively.

Results of Soil Fertility Index showed that 34.95% , 45.13% , 5.20 and 5.46% of the area were very high, high, moderate and low fertility, respectively.

The results of the soil suitability classification indicate that, the most units fall under the moderately suitable class (S2) which represents 54.76% of the total area (52193 ha.

).

The highly suitable class (S1) represents 5.05% of the total area (4813ha).

About 30.93% of the study area (29476 ha.

) while marginally class (S3) and those areas have adverse physical and chemical properties of the soil.

The results found that the area is suitable for field crops.

The study of the factors affecting the crop composition showed that the natural and human factors had a clear effect on the crop complex in the study area.

The study area had suitable climatic conditions for the cultivation and growth of most crops in their different seasons.