The magnitude of the studied salt affected soils has been increased fast due to
scale efforts to bring additional areas under the agricultural utilization projects in
recent decades. Also, it is necessary to correct their deleterious properties under
introduce water management practices that will prevent wasting of fresh water. In
addition, executing a suitable technique that has become associated with increasing
soil supplying power for nutrients and minimizing the possible adverse effects for
adapting land resources to human demand. Therefore, the current work has been
undertaken to evaluate the constraints for ameliorating the salt affected soil under the
prevailing environmental conditions of the northem-east Nile Delta area. The proposal
reclamation technique should be overcome three aspects of related problems, I.e.,
leaching the excess of salts, lowering the ESP values and developing an adequate
soil structure.
The studied soil Is commonly found under relatively high ground water table,
thus it is surveyed as sallne wetland in dry climates and mapped as Aquisalids. The
suitability unit 01 the studied soil was a current not suitable (N1tws1s4n), with an
Identified Ifmitation of wetness that enhances the hazardous effect of excess water
that drives the air from the soil pores and leads to lack of oxygen. Also, the relative
heavy texture and salinity/alkalinity have direct adverse influences on soil permeability
and \he available water range. In addition. the shallow sanne water table enhances
the upward movement and causes salinity/alkalinity conditions under the prevailing
hot conditions.
The untraditional approach used for reclaiming the studied soil was started
With a continuous leaching technique using the saline drainage water, under an
economic land use being from a fish-pond farm, where Tilipla fish cultivated on MarCh
2002 and continued up to the same time of 2003. Then, the soil under study was
treated with gypsum requirement and poultry waste as natural soil amendments in
individual or combined treatments, thoroughly mixed with a depth of 60 em using the
surface tillage and subsoiling for improving soil physico-chemical and fertility status.
The leaching technique was continued under cultivation of the rice crop irrigated with
the Nile water and an effICient open drainage ditches at 25 m distance.
Results obtained indicated that the deteriorated soil structure was modified
from prismatic or columnar to well define subangular blocky, associated with
favourable soil moisture regime cydes and increasing the effective soil depth due to
lowering water table level from 65 to more than 140. In addition, disposing the surface
salty crust and subsoil olive gray mottles due to improving soil permeability and
aeration condition. Also, a pronounced ameliorated conditions were occurred for soil
bulk density, soil strength, total porosity, total aggregates, pore size distribution,
hydraulic conductIvity, available water range, soil pH, ECe and ESP. The optimum
values were achieved in the case of combined treatment (4 ton poultry wastelfed + 8
ton gypsumlfed).
The superiority of this treatment is more related to the released active organic
acids and soluble Ca2+ or SO.2-, which coagulated the dispersed soil particles,
increasing the drainable pores and in tum enhancing soil permeability that encourage
Mahmoud, M. M.
the removal of Na.salts and decrease the ESP values. On the other hand, soil organic
matter and available nutrient achieved the maximum values at rate of 8 ton poultry
wastelfed, due to Its enrichment In organic components and essential macro and
micronutrients. The studied agr~management practices to the soil under
investigation caused a positive effect on the vegetative growth of the grown rice
plants, and in tum their yields of straw and grain, with more responded to the
combined treatment of (4 ton/fed poultry manure + 8 tonlfed gypsum) for increasing
the grain and straw yields with about 73 and 46 %, respectively, over those obtained
from the Initial state of soil.