Assessing Soil Quality Indicators in El- Minya Governorate Using Integration between Gis and Remote Sensing

Soil quality assessing was done by integration between remote sensing and GIS for west El-Minya Governorate. The district is of high seniority for agriculture development. Twenty-five soil profiles were drilled to represent the main geomorphologic units within the investigated area. The result indicated that ten main morphological units were identified ,1- old wadi sediments, 2- Peniplains, 3-Old stream terraces, 4-Plains out wash, 5- Sand dunes, 6-Erosional plains, 7-Sand sheets, 8-hill, 9-Rock out crops, and 10-Shoulders.  The soil quality index (SQI) was estimated depending on  parent material, drainage condition, soil texture class, rock fragments (%), soil depth (cm),slope gradient (%),  EC (ds/m), ESP, pH and CaCO3 (g/kg).Soil of west El-Minya area variable from high soil quality to low soil quality and percentages were as follows: High quality areas index represent 7.0 % of the total area (40021 ha) in RT mapping unit, most of the study area 88 % (506401 ha) consists of moderate and moderate low quality classes in SH, WS, P, S, EP and PO mapping units, and low quality areas index represents 5 % of the total area (26203ha) in RO, SD and H mapping units. The research additionally explain the significance of GIS in constructing land resource data base of soil that is very much substantial for better observance of soil characteristic for optimum sustainable agriculture.