Land suitability classification of some Qalubiya soils

The present work aimed at sassing land suitability for irrigated agriculture and certain crops of some soils in Qalubiya Governorate, Egypt. The studied area covers an arable area of about 81000 ha (810 km²), located on Damietta branch, east  of the Nile River, between latitudes 30° 06´ and 30° 36´ N and longitudes 31° 03´ to 31° 35´ E. Twenty soil profiles representing the main physiographic units have been chosen to represent the studied area. The soils are of S1 class (highly suitable), S2 (moderately suitable) and S3 (marginally suitable). Currently, the soils are related to three sub classes, i.e. S2s: with slight intensity of texture, gypsum and salinity and alkalinity limitations; S2sn: with moderate intensity of salinity and alkalinity and slight intensity of texture limitations and S3s: with severe intensity of texture limitation. Potentially, the soils are classified into two subclasses, i.e. S2s: with slight (S2s-1) and severe (S2s-2) intensity of texture limitations and S3s: with severe intensity of texture limitations. The soils are suitable in their current conditions for most of selected crops, although some soils appears not suitable (N1) for cotton, carrots, onion, tomatoes, banana, guava and mango. By performing some improvements on the studied soils, they would be suitable in their potential conditions for all the selected crops.