Benefit From Agr
Benefit From Agricultural Waste to
Improve the Properties of Desert Land and Resist Environmental Pollution
W.M. Omran1;2 ,
S.A. Hassan1;3 and M.A. Fadl1;4
1 Dept. of Biology, Fac. of Sci., Taif Univ., Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia.
2 Dept. of Soil Sci., Fac. of Agric., Menofiya Univ.,
Egypt.
3 Dept. of Microbiology., Fac. of Vet. Med., South Valley Univ., Egypt.
4 Dept. of Botany.,
Fac. of Sci., Beni-Suef Univ., Egypt.
Abstract: The environmental pollution from agricultural
waste and waste from the barns are considered of the main sources of
environmental pollution facing Egypt and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well as
poor physical properties and soil fertility that coupled with the desert lands
(sandy soils), which cover most of the area of the two specified countries. In
addition to, the phenomenon of desertification, which reflects the loss of the
soil beside the deserts to its fertility and changed from productive to
nonproductive. Getting ride off agricultural waste and reclaiming desert lands,
with very poor physical properties, are the challenges. The agricultural waste
are rich in organic matter which reduce the pollution load and improve
hydro-physical properties of such kind of soil (e.g. Egyptian and Saudi
deserts), this research was conducted to study the effect of using two types of
compost, prepared from different agricultural waste (i.e. stable wastes and
plant residuals), at different application positions. The application positions
were surface application (SA), sub-surface application (SbA), and whole
application (WA). The studied parameters were soil evaporation (E),
evapotranspiration (ET), and water use efficiency (WUE). A pot experiment under
green house was carried out to reach those objectives. The obtained results
could be summarized as follows. Significantly, E and ET were decreased and WUE
was increased. About 13% of applied water could be saved by applying compost to
sandy soil, regardless compost type or application position. No significant
difference was found between the two applied composts. WA was associated with
the highest E and ET and the lowest WUE comparing with the other two
application positions. No significant difference was found between SA and SbA.
Based on the previously mentioned results the study recommended using compost
as an amendment of desert (i.e. sandy soil) for the purpose of water
conservation and recycling agricultural wastes as well.
[W.M. Omran, S.A. Hassan and
M.A. Fadl. Benefit From Agricultural Waste to Improve the
Properties of Desert Land and Resist Environmental Pollution Life
Sci. J 2013;10(1):3457-3465]. (ISSN: 1097-8135).http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 437
Keywords: Compost
– Physical and chemical soil properties – Desert soils 437
