LAND SUITABILITY EVALUATION FOR CULTIVATION OF SOME SOILS IN WESTERN DESERT OF EGYPT, EL-MINYA GOVERNORATE USING GIS AND REMOTE SENSING.

The study area is selected to be one of the prospecting areas in the western desert according to some topographic and physical characters. It lies between latitudes 27o 37\ and 27o 59\ N & longitudes 30o 15\ to 30o 36\ E. and occupy about 337630 feddan. The studied area lies to the west of the River Nile in El-Minya Governorate. The present study aims at initiating a base geomorphologic map of the study area for soil mapping, classification and land evaluation for irrigated agriculture. To achieve this objective geological map, Landsat ETM+ image analysis (path 177-raw 41), and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) supplemented by in situ data acquisition were used for delineating the main geomorphologic units. These units are low high terraces, medium high terraces, high terraces and rock land. Thirty five soil profiles representing the different physiographic units were exposed, morphologically described, classified according to Soil Taxonomy (USDA, 2014) and 101 soil samples were collected for lab analyses. Two soil orders are identified in the study area i.e. Aridisols, which are dominated in the study area, and Entisols. These orders are differentiated into suborders, great groups, subgroups and families. The main soil sub-orders detected in the study area are Gypsids, Calcids and Orthents. The study area is differentiated into the following families: ? Typic Calcigypsids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic. ? Typic Calcigypsids, coarse loamy, mixed, hyperthermic. ? Lithic Calcigypsids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic . ? Typic Haplocalcids,coarse loamy over clayey, mixed, hyperthermic. ? Typic Haplocalcids, fine loamy, mixed, hyperthermic. ? Typic Haplocalcids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic. ? Typic Torriorthents, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic. The current suitability of the studied soil profiles was estimated by matching between the present land characteristics and their ratings outlined by Sys and Verhey (1978). Suitability indices and classification of the studied soils revealed that there are three suitability classes, i.e., moderately suitable, marginally suitable and not suitable. The soil limiting factors in the study area are soil texture, salinity and alkalinity, soil depth and gypsum content with slight to severe and very severe intensity. Further land improvements are required to correct or reduce the severity of limitations exiting in the studied area, such as: a) leaching of soils salinity, b) continuous application of organic manure to improve soil physico-chemical properties and fertility status, and c) application of modern irrigation system, i.e. drip and sprinkler. By applying the previous improvement practices according to Sys et al (1991), potential suitability of the studied soils could raised to highly suitable, moderately suitable, marginally suitable and little areas of not suitable soil.