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373757

Impact of Flood-Irrigated Sugarcane Monoculture on Groundwater Quality in the Nile Alluvial Soils

Article

Last updated: 04 Jan 2025

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Abstract

Sugarcane is an economic crop and one of the most dominant crops worldwide. This research aim was to evaluate impacts of long-term sugar cane monoculture on some groundwater physicochemical and biological properties as indicators of water quality. Survey study covering sugar belt area of El-Minia Governorate, Egypt was conducted. This study revealed that suitability of groundwater for irrigation falls under the degree of "severe" use restriction, and continuous use of this groundwater for irrigation may increase the salinity problem in the alluvial soils. Groundwater was highly contaminated by total coliforms, E. coli and faecal coliform bacteria under both sugar cane monoculture and crop rotation agricultural systems. The total coliforms population ranged from 360 to 362,Cfu/100 mL, the fecal coliforms population ranged from 212 to 215 Cfu/100 mL and the E. coli population ranged from 248 to 256 Cfu/100mL with insignificant differences between both agricultural systems. Under sugarcane monoculture, average concentrations of cadmium, chromium, nickel and lead in groundwater was 60, 1220, 1320, and 1250 μg/L, while the average concentrations of cadmium, chromium, nickel and lead were 57, 1220, 1350, 1230 μg/L under crop rotation with insignificant differences. The mean concentration of heavy metals observed in groundwater samples often exceeded the permissible limits for irrigation water specified by the World Health Organization (WHO). Based on these findings, it can be inferred that sugarcane monoculture has greatly degraded the quality of groundwater characteristics. This highlights the pressing need for implementing more sustainable management strategies to safeguard groundwater quality in the Nile Valley.

DOI

10.21608/jssae.2024.301011.1236

Keywords

Sugarcane Monoculture, Heavy metals, water quality

Authors

First Name

Marwa

Last Name

Hussien

MiddleName

S.

Affiliation

Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Minia University

Email

marwa.hussien@mu.edu.eg

City

-

Orcid

0009-0007-7513-6569

First Name

I.

Last Name

Yousif

MiddleName

A. H.

Affiliation

Soil Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, 12613, Egypt.

Email

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City

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Orcid

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Volume

15

Article Issue

8

Related Issue

50154

Issue Date

2024-08-01

Receive Date

2024-08-14

Publish Date

2024-08-01

Page Start

225

Page End

237

Print ISSN

2090-3685

Online ISSN

2090-3766

Link

https://jssae.journals.ekb.eg/article_373757.html

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https://jssae.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=373757

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1

Type

Original Article

Type Code

889

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Journal of Soil Sciences and Agricultural Engineering

Publication Link

https://jssae.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Impact of Flood-Irrigated Sugarcane Monoculture on Groundwater Quality in the Nile Alluvial Soils

Details

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Article

Created At

30 Dec 2024