Evaluation of Land capability and suitability for crop production: case study in some areas of El-Gharbiya Governorate of Egypt.

The current study was carried out on the soils of El-Gharbiya Governorate to estimate their capability and suitability for growing some crops (Sunflower, Cotton, wheat, potato, corn, soybean, mellon, beet, alfalfa, peach, citrus and olive). The studied area lies between latitudes 30 ˚ 42 `00`` and 31 ˚ 04 ` 00`` N, and longitudes 30 ˚ 46 ` 00`` to 31 ˚ 02 ` 00`` E, with a total area is around 63852ha. Soil texture is varying from clay to clay loam. For this purpose, 10 soil profiles were dag and collect of soil samples. The geomorphologic units the investigated area are divided into 6 land forms: 1- Decantation basin. 2-Over flow basin. 3- High terraces. 4- Moderate terraces. 5- Low terraces. 6- Levee. 7-swale. Land capability and suitability evaluation was done by integrating remote sensing and GIS techniques for three districts in El-Gharbiya Governorate of Egypt (Basuien, Kafr El-zayat and Tanta). The Micro lies program and Geographic Information System (GIS) used to assess the suitability of the land in the study area. According to Micro-LEIS-Cervatana capability model, the capability of the lands in the study area are grouped into three classes; Class1 (S1) occupied 23.64% of the study area and represented by decantation basin and overflow basin mapping units, Class2 (S2) occupied 3.60% of the study area and included swale mapping unit and Class3 (S3) occupied 72.76% of the study area and included high terraces, moderate terraces, low terraces and levee mapping units. According to the Micro-LEIS-Almagra model, the suitability of the study area classified into four classes: optimum suitability class (S1) occupying 15.70%of the study area, high suitability class (S2) occupying 58.78%of the study area, moderate suitability class (S3) occupying 13.72%of the study area, and marginal suitability class (S4) occupying 11.76%of the study area. The main limiting factors for crop production in the study area are soil texture, depth and calcium carbonate. The soil maps of agricultural suitability can be helpful in the management processes.