Effects of Varied Soil Leveling Methods on Physical Properties: A Comparative Analysis

Amr Sabahy, Abdel-Rahman A. EL-Sheshny, Essam A. Elsamra, Mohamed M. M. Eid, Mohamed Essam

Abstract


The total cultivated land area in this context is 8,664,000 square meters, which constitutes about 4% of Egypt's territory. The cultivation relies on old land dams, lines, and furrow surface irrigation systems. A significant portion (76%) of the cultivated land is irrigated with high-density leveled soil instead of unlevelled soil. Leveled soil has very low clay and organic matter content. Land leveling is a preparation or modification process that provides a suitable surface for seeding production. It involves reducing high areas and raising low or deep spots to create a more even surface. Laser-controlled land leveling is a technique that helps create a more even surface by reducing high areas and raising low spots. This process aims to eliminate surface irregularities and create a level plane, which can significantly impact crop germination, uniformity, and, ultimately, the yield of field crops. Laser technology allows for precision in land leveling, ensuring a more consistent seed depth, better water distribution, and improved crop-growing conditions. By creating a more uniform surface, the potential for more consistent crop growth, better water retention, and improved distribution of nutrients is increased. The study's main objective appears to be to determine the most appropriate types of land leveling that can be implemented and to analyze how land leveling treatments affect the physical properties of the soil during different seasons. The data shows that the leaser treatment decreased soil porosity in both seasons, dropping values from 57.36% to 54.34% in the first season and from 55.47% to 51.32% in the second season. In contrast, the "rotary treatment" had the opposite effect, increasing soil porosity in both seasons. The values rose from 57.34% to 59.62% in the first season and from 57.74% to 59.25% in the second. Observing how these treatments had different impacts on the soil over time is intriguing.

 

Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2024-010-11-014

Full Text: PDF


Keywords


Land leveling; Soil Properties; Bulk Density; Crops.

References


Karajeh, F., Oweis, T., Swelam, A., El-Gindy, A., El-Quosy, D. E. D., Khalifa, H., El-Kholy, M., El-Hafez, S. A. (2011). Water and agriculture in Egypt. International center for agricultural research in the dry areas and Australian government (ICARDA), Beirut, Lebanon.

Soliman, G., El-Ghannam, M., & EL-Samet, R. (2019). Nitrate Translocation Through Clay Soil into Drainage Water as Affected by Land Leveling and Cut off Irrigation under Wheat Cultivation. Journal of Soil Sciences and Agricultural Engineering, 10(10), 597–603. doi:10.21608/jssae.2019.63258.

Bai, G., Du, S., Yu, J., & Zhang, P. (2013). Laser land leveling improve distribution of soil moisture and soil salinity and enhance spring wheat yield. Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, 29(8), 125–134. doi:10.3969/j.issn.1002-6819.2013.08.015.

Mustafa, A., Athar, F., Khan, I., Chattha, M. U., Nawaz, M., Shah, A. N., Mahmood, A., Batool, M., Aslam, M. T., Jaremko, M., Abdelsalam, N. R., Ghareeb, R. Y., & Hassan, M. U. (2022). Improving crop productivity and nitrogen use efficiency using sulfur and zinc-coated urea: A review. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13(942384). doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.942384.

3-Clemmens, A. J., Eisenhauer, D. E., & Maheshwari, B. (1998). Infiltration and Roughness Equations for Surface Irrigation: How Form Influences Estimation. 2001 Sacramento, CA July 29-August 1, 2001. doi:10.13031/2013.4126.

Rasul, F., Munir, H., Wajid, A., Safdar, M., Salman Ayub, M., Shahzad, S., Mehmood, R., Adnan Shahid, M., Sarwar, A., Danish Majeed, M., Gull, U., Nasim J., W., Mubeen, M., Jahan, S., & Ahmed, S. (2023). Sustainable Irrigation Management for Higher Yield. Irrigation and Drainage - Recent Advances, Intechopen, London, United Kingdom. doi:10.5772/intechopen.107153.

Zobeck, T. M., & Popham, T. W. (2001). Cropping and tillage effects on soil roughness indexes. Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 44(6), 1527–1536. doi:10.13031/2013.7036.

Zhao, L., Zhang, Z., Dong, F., Fu, Y., Hou, L., Liu, J., & Wang, Y. (2023). Research on the Features of Rainfall Regime and Its Influence on Surface Runoff and Soil Erosion in the Small Watershed, the Lower Yellow River. Water (Switzerland), 15(14), 2651. doi:10.3390/w15142651.

El- Samra, E. A., Matar M. A., & Mehawed, H. S. (2013). Irrigation efficiencies as function of soil manipulation. Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Research, 91 (2A), 299-322.

Asif, M., Ahmed, M., Gafoor, A., & Aslam, Z. (2003). Wheat Productivity, Land and Water Use Efficiency by Traditional and Laser Land-leveling Techniques. Journal of Biological Sciences, 3(2), 141–146. doi:10.3923/jbs.2003.141.146.

Devkota, K. P., Yadav, S., Humphreys, E., Kumar, A., Kumar, P., Kumar, V., Malik, R. K., & Srivastava, A. K. (2021). Land gradient and configuration effects on yield, irrigation amount and irrigation water productivity in rice-wheat and maize-wheat cropping systems in Eastern India. Agricultural Water Management, 255, 107036. doi:10.1016/j.agwat.2021.107036.

Esfandiari, M. (2004). Introduction to technology of laser and leveler lands to farms. University of Shahid Bahonar Kermam Press, Kerman, Iran.

Mairghany, M., Yahya, A., Adam, N. M., Mat Su, A. S., Aimrun, W., & Elsoragaby, S. (2019). Rotary tillage effects on some selected physical properties of fine textured soil in wetland rice cultivation in Malaysia. Soil and Tillage Research, 194, 104318. doi:10.1016/j.still.2019.104318.

El-Sharkawy, A. F., Goma, A. H., & Bader, S. (2005). Effect of laser land leveling, discharge rate and planting methods on cotton crop. Misr Journal of Agricultural Engineering, 22(1), 199-208.

Jat, M. L., Chandna, P., Gupta, R., Sharma, S. K., & Gill, M. A. (2006). Laser land leveling: A precursor technology for resource conservation. Rice-Wheat consortium technical bulletin series, 7, 48.

Kaur, B., Singh, S., Garg, B. R., Singh, J. M., & Singh, J. (2012). Enhancing Water Productivity through On-farm Resource Conservation Technology in Punjab Agriculture. Agricultural Economics Research Review, 25(1), 79–85.

Tomar, S. S., Singh, Y. P., Naresh, R. K., Dhaliwal, S. S., Gurjar, R. S., Yadav, R., Sharma, D., & Tomar, S. (2020). Impacts of laser land levelling technology on yield, water productivity, soil health and profitability under arable cropping in alluvial soil of north Madhya Pradesh. Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, 9(4), 1889-1898.

Khan, F., Khan, S. U., Sarir, M. S., & Khattak, R. A. (2007). Effect of land leveling on some physico-chemical properties of soil in district DIR lower. Sarhad Journal of Agriculture, 23(1), 107–114.

Van Bavel, C. H. M. (1950). Mean Weightâ€Diameter of Soil Aggregates as a Statistical Index of Aggregation. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 14(C), 20–23. doi:10.2136/sssaj1950.036159950014000c0005x.

Abo-Habaga, M. (2004). Effect of Accuracy Leveling on Some Physical and Mechanical Soil Properties. Journal of Soil Sciences and Agricultural Engineering, 29(2), 709–714. doi:10.21608/jssae.2004.240806.

Correa, J., Postma, J. A., Watt, M., & Wojciechowski, T. (2019). Soil compaction and the architectural plasticity of root systems. Journal of Experimental Botany, 70(21), 6019–6034. doi:10.1093/jxb/erz383.


Full Text: PDF

DOI: 10.28991/CEJ-2024-010-11-014

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.




Copyright (c) 2024 Abd EL-Rahman A. EL-Sheshny, Mohamed M. Eid, Mohamed Essam

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
x
Message