EFFECT OF IRRIGATION WATER SOURCE ON SOME SOIL CHEMICAL PROPERTIES

Abstract

The study aims to study the effect of irrigation water characteristics from different sources (i.e., fresh water and agricultural drainage water) on some chemical properties of the soil (soil pH, soil electrical conductivity “ECe”, sodium adsorption ratio “SAR”, cations exchange capacity “CEC” and exchangeable sodium percentage “ESP”).Therefore, water samples were collected from 15 different sites of the Bahr Mouise canal and likewise from the Bahr El-Baqar drain, which are located in Sharkia Governorate, Egypt. In parallel with water sampling, soil samples were taken from the same areas that are irrigated with these waters (i.e., Bahr Mouise canal and Bahr ElBaqar drain). Soil and water samples were analyzed.The results indicated that the irrigation water sources (i.e., Bahr Mouise canal and Bahr El-Baqar drain) were affected on the different of the chemical characteristics of soil. The pH values of the soil that irrigated with Bahr Mouise canal water were ranged from 7.62 to 8.35 with an average 8.01±0.21, while pH values of the soil that irrigated with Bahr El-Baqar drain water were ranged from 7.99 to 8.56 with an average 8.27±0.16. The EC values of the soil that irrigated with Bahr Mouise canal water were ranged from 0.61 to 3.86 dS/m with an average 1.23±1.00 dS/m, while ECe values of the soil that irrigated with Bahr El-Baqar drain water were ranged from 1.82 to 2.67dS/m with an average 2.35±0.30 dS/m. Regarding sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), the SAR values average in soil that irrigated with Bahr Mouise canal (ranged from 0.84 to 7.65 mmolc/l with an average 2.12±1.91 mmolc/l) were less than the SAR values average in soil that irrigated with Bahr El-Baqar drain (ranged from 2.49 to 3.79 mmolc/l with an average 3.27±0.38 mmolc/l) with statistically significant differences between them (p-value < 0.05). In addition, the results showed that the CEC values in the soil that irrigated with Bahr El-Baqar drain (ranged from 49.66 to 71.37 cmolc/kg soil with an avera