Long term effects of untraditional irrigation water qualities on some soil properties and fertilization program

Abstract

High quality of water has the potential to allow maximum productivity under the good management practices of soil and water. This study objects to investigate the long term effects of different irrigation water qualities: Nile Water (NW), Agricultural Drainage Water (ADW), Nile Water + Agricultural Drainage Water (NW+ADW), Nile Water+ Agricultural Drainage Water + Treated Waste Water (NW+ADW+TWW), and (USW) at AL-Jamalia region, Dakahlia governorate, Egypt. The results showed that the tested water samples belong to C3 and S1 classes of water, where EC values ranged from 0.74 to 2.25dSm-1 and less than 10 of SAR. The concentration of Fe, Mn, Cu, and Cd are recorded in high concentration than permissible limits, while, the concentration of Zn and Pb were found to be within the range of permissible limits. The contribution of different irrigation water qualities on fertilization program, especially NPK was taken into consideration as a seasonal effect of these qualities. The long term effect of different irrigation water qualities on soil properties was based on the comparison between the soil irrigated by NW verses the soil irrigated by other qualities. The content of N, P, K, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb were higher in the soils irrigated by untraditional irrigation water qualities than the soil irrigated by NW, where the increases of these elements were higher in surface layers then subsurface layers for the studied soils. In conclusion the soils under study being heavy clay texture which needs attention to plowing dismantling and improving drainage in order to improve the movement of water, air and nutrients.