Monitoring soil productivity using Remote sensing and GIS techniques in El- Qaliobia Governorate, Egypt

Abdel Kawy, Wael Ahmed; Abd El-Aziz, Batool Adel; Abd El-Hady, Ali Abd El-Hameed; Ali, Rafat Ramadan

doi:10.21608/ejss.2024.273620.1732

Monitoring soil productivity using Remote sensing and GIS techniques in El- Qaliobia Governorate, Egypt

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Soil Science department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University

² Soil science department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo university

³ Soils and Water use Dept. National Research Centre

10.21608/ejss.2024.273620.1732

Abstract

Soil productivity refers to the capability of soil to sustain crop production, as determined by its complete range of physical, chemical, and biological attributes. The present study aimed to assess and monitoring the productivity of soils in El-Qaliobia Governorate, Egypt, which encompasses an area of 1022 km2. To determine the major physiographic units in the area, ENVI software 5.3 was used to process the "Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Landsat Operational Land Imager (OLI) " images and digital elevation model. The study area is located in lower Egypt, north of Cairo, in the Nile Delta region, which was analyzed using multi-temporal Landsat imagery (2005 and 2022) and Digital Elevation Models. Results showed that the vegetation areas were decreased from 70% to 63 % during the period from 2005 to 2022 while the urban areas were increased from 23.9 % to 30.8 %. The main landform units over the area were delineated using Satellite images and the Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Out of twenty-nine soil profiles, thirteen were selected to represent different map units. Morphological descriptions were conducted as well as soil samples for physical and chemical analysis. soil samples were analyzed to classify soil productivity using the Requier Land Productivity Index (RLPI). The spatial analyst function within ArcGIS 10.8 was employed for the purpose of approximating the assessment of the moisture content rating, drainage condition, effective soil depth, texture/structure, soluble salt concentration, organic matter content, Cation exchange capacity, and mineral reserve. The results illustrated that approximately 38.3 % and 23.0 % of the entire expanse is comprised of good classes (II) and average classes (III), while Class IV and V accounts for a mere 35.8% and 2.9 % of the total area in 2005, then Approximately 25.5 % and 12.9 % of the entire expanse is comprised of good classes (II) and average classes (III), while Class IV and V accounts for a mere 35.8 % and 25.8% of the total area in 2022.

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