Assessment of The Compost Addition and Sandification to Overcome the Calcium Carbonate Problems in Heavy Clay Calcareous Soils at El-Farafra Oasis – Egypt

Abstract

HE AIM of the present study was to evaluate the effects of sandification and composted manure on some selected chemical properties; SOM, CaCO 3 , EC, Soluble Calcium and pH, as well as the pore size distribution of heavy clay calcareous soil. The experiment included four levels of sand addition and three levels of compost in a split plot design with three replicates. The experiment was carried out in an agricultural bilateral cycle that included wheat and maize crop cultivation in the winter and summer seasons, respectively. The results showed that sandification increased the sand fraction slightly and led to a slight decrease in the clay fraction at the end of the wheat season. This was more pronounced in the 1 st soil layer than in the 2 nd and the 3 rd subsurface layers. The residual effects of compost (after harvesting the maize crop) had no obvious effect on the soil particle size distribution. Increasing rates of sandification and compost additions led to a decrease in the soil content of CaCO 3 % compared to the initial soil, pH values, and soil salinity, while the SOM% and soluble Ca ions increased. The best results were obtained under the highest rates of sandification (S 15 ) and compost addition (C 2 ). It could be summarized that the role of both sandification and compost additions has affected CaCO 3 . This relation increases the release of calcium ions (Ca +2 ) to soil solutions, so that buffering the pH values declines towards neutrality. The relatively high salinity of compost affected positively the calcium carbonate solubility.

Impact of cultivation methods and fertilization by EM (Effective microorganisms) and /or compost on Productivity and water use efficiency of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

“…(Abdou et al, 2023), consequently support in the water stress tolerance . The application of organic fertilizers like compost reduced soil pH (Yassin et al, 2023); In the meantime, the soil's cation exchange capacity. Subsequently, available nutrient contents of grains were significantly increased.…”

Amelioration with nano-sulfur suspensions mitigates calcium carbonate of calcareous sandy soil

“…Calcareous soils are widely present in the desert areas of Egypt. The amelioration and cultivation of these soils have become an essential necessity to increase our agricultural production in order to meet the evergrowing food demand (Abou Hussien et al 2019;Yassin et al 2023). Calcareous soils are those with a high content of CaCO3 (≥ 15%; FAO 2023; Nada and Elbaalawy 2023), which causes some side chemical and physical problems, i.e., high pH, imbalances between nutritional elements, and changes the pore size distribution (Abou Hussien et al 2019;Goossens et al 2014;Hafshejani and Jafari 2017;Alghamdi et al, 2023;Abou Hussien et al, 2021).…”

“…Calcareous soils are those with a high content of CaCO3 (≥ 15%; FAO 2023; Nada and Elbaalawy 2023), which causes some side chemical and physical problems, i.e., high pH, imbalances between nutritional elements, and changes the pore size distribution (Abou Hussien et al 2019;Goossens et al 2014;Hafshejani and Jafari 2017;Alghamdi et al, 2023;Abou Hussien et al, 2021). Increased CaCO 3 has a significant impact on soil fertility status, leading to a reduction in crop yields (Ingole et al 2018;Yassin et al 2023). Moreover, it leads to decrease pore area and increase the total number of pores in soil, which results in decreased soil waterholding capacity, and thus hardening upon drying, forming, surface crusts (Chen et al 2020;Abou Hussien et al, 2023 ;Nada and Elbaalawy 2023).…”

Nano-Management Approaches for Salt Tolerance in Plants under Field and In Vitro Conditions

“…Direct and indirect results can be noticed under salinity stress, which represent the decline of several biological plant activities and reduce the final crop yield [8]. There are several strategies to cope with salinity stress, starting with developing crop cultivars tolerant to salinity through applying traditional breeding methods [9], genetic and molecular techniques [10][11][12], nutrients/nanonutrient management strategies [13,14], and using organic amendments or hormonal regulators [15][16][17]. As a result of the negative effects of salinity on crop growth and/or productivity, a notable reduction was noticed for many crops, such as safflower [1], rice [2], and maize [18].…”