Assessment of soil quality indicators and phosphorus status of the land resources on both sides of Sohag-Safaga highway, Eastern Desert, Egypt

Reclamation of desert lands in Egypt has become an urgent necessity to increase both the cultivated area and the agricultural production. Wherefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the physical and chemical properties as well as the available phosphorus content of the soils around the Sohag-Safaga highway in the Eastern Desert. The results of this study show that the study area is characterized by a coarse texture of sand, loamy sand, and sandy loam. The organic matter content of the investigated soil samples is low and is less than 0.5%. Most of the soil samples have moderately alkaline pH values. In addition, about 16% of these samples are non-saline (ECe <2dSm-1), 19% are very slightly saline (ECe = 2-4 dS m-1), 14% are slightly saline (4-8 dSm-1), 20 % are moderately saline (8-16 dSm-1) and 30% are strongly saline (>16 dSm-1). The calcium carbonate content of the studied soils ranges from 0.4% to 38.8% with an average of 12.2%. Mover over the available phosphorus content of the under-study soils varies from 2.8 to 16.3 mg kg-1 with an average of 6.15 mg kg-1. About 38.4% of the soil samples show low available phosphorus (P) levels that are less than 5 mg kg-1. However, most of the soil samples (about 54.7%) had contain available phosphorus values of 5 - 10 mg kg-1,but only 7% of these samples have >10 mg kg-1 available P. So, it is recommended to apply organic manure and phosphate fertilizer to improve the productivity of the soils under study.