Abdellatif D. Abdellatif( 2021). Assessment of Land Suitability for Surface and Drip Irrigation Systems in the Northwestern Coast of EgyptEgypt. J. Soil. Sci. Vol. 61, No. 1, pp. 147-160 (2021)
Abstract: THIS WORK aimed at the assessment of the land suitability for surface and drip irrigation systems in a part of west Matrouh area, northwestern coast of Egypt. For establishing this target, a digital elevation model (DEM) and SENTENAL-2 image were used for identifying the physiographic units of the studied area. The integration between satellite image and soil survey using Arc-GIS10.9 software was done to produce the different maps of this work.These properties were used for assessment the land suitability. The studied area have nine landform units, including coastal plain, alluvial plain, sloping area, escarpment, coarse valley inner, coarse valley outer, low piedmont, Moderately high piedmont and high piedmont.Thirty-one soil profiles were selected to represent these different landform units and described morphologically .Soil samples were collected according to the vertical variations of each profile for physiochemical properties and analyzed. Results of land suitability assessment indicated that, the studied soils could be categorized as suitable (S) and currently not suitable (N1) for surface irrigation. Marginally suitable soils (S3) covered nearly 64% of the total area, while the remaining area was occupied by moderately suitable soils (S2) and those of N1 class (31%). The most limiting factors are texture, soil depth, drainage and excess of CaCO3 content. The land suitability assessment for drip irrigation system indicated that, the soils are highly suitable (S1) in 2% of the area, moderately suitable in 56% and marginally suitable in 42% of the area. This shows that,the drip irrigation is more benefit than the surface irrigation in this area.
Keywords: (Land suitability assessment, Surface and drip irrigation, Northwest of Egypt.)
