Effect of Land Use Change on Soil Degradation and Improvement in a Dryland Area in Egypt

Allam, Mohamed Abdelrady; Abd Elkawy, Osama Rady; Bahnassy, Mohamed

doi:10.21608/ejss.2024.303260.1811

Effect of Land Use Change on Soil Degradation and Improvement in a Dryland Area in Egypt

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Soil and Water Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University.

10.21608/ejss.2024.303260.1811

Abstract

One of the major environmental issues threatening agricultural land and impeding sustainable development is land degradation. This research work was conducted to assess and monitor soil degradation and improvement under medium-term of land use changes in a dryland area in Egypt. Soil salinization and sodification were assessed in 2022 and the results were compared with those of an earlier study conducted in 2008. Salinization and sodification rates were estimated and mapped to reflect the chemical soil degradation and improvement in conjunction with land use change. In terms of soil degradation and improvement rates, the results revealed that the study area witnessed a non-to-slight (0-2 dS m-1/year) and moderate to high (2 to more than 5 dS m-1 /year) decrease in the soil salinity by 58% and 9.4%, respectively. This is due to the change of land use such as change from natural vegetation to crop production or due to crop rotations such as the transition of summer and winter crops to the perennial lucerne (Medicago sativa L.). The impact of cropping pattern change was also obvious on the decrease of sodicity levels, where the non-to-slight rate (0-1 decrement a year) occupied 45.6 % of the study area while the moderate rate (1-2 decrement a year) occupied 0.8%. The effect was more evident in the southeastern part of the study area. On the other hand, the development of soil degradation rate took place, where 22.1% of the area witnessed a non-to-slight salinity increase while the moderate, high, and very high salinity increase occupied 10.26%. At the same time, the increase in soil sodicity rate was observed, where the non-to-slight rate (0-1/year) occupied 53% of the study area while the moderate rate (1-2/year) occupied 0.6%. The increase in the soil degradation rate was due to the change of land use from crop production to natural vegetation where water irrigation was no longer applied to the soil, especially under such dryland conditions.

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