Status of Potassium in Some Calcareous Soils of Egypt and Factors Affecting Its Forms

Document Type : Original Article

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Faculty of Agriculture, Benha University, Egypt1

Abstract

The current study throw some light on potassium (K) status in some calcareous soils of Egypt as well as its relations to soil indigenous properties. To achieve the targets of this study, eight selected profiles were dug in soils of the Western Desert of Egypt, North Sinai and El-Fayum governorate. Physical, chemical and mineralogical analyses of these soils were carried out. The total and different forms of potassium in soils (i.e. water soluble, exchangeable and NH4OAc extractable) were evaluated.
Results of different analyses showed that the investigated soils varied in their indigenous physical and chemical properties. They also varied in their mineralogical compositions. Soil of Western Desert and North Sinai were dominated with kaolinite followed by smectite whereas soils of the other investigated areas were dominated by smectite followed by kaolinite. The studied soils varied, to some extent, in their contents of the total and different K-forms. To evaluate the effects of the indigenous soil properties on these forms of K correlation of each of these forms with the different soil properties were calculated. The most important correlations indicated that the clay content and the cation exchange capacity were of the most pronounced effect on the different K forms. However, the other soil properties although did not show significant correlations with the different K-forms, yet their influences on the K-forms cannot by neglected.

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