Prof. Fahmy Mohamed Habiab Hassan :: Publications:

The current investigation was aimed at studying the effect of addition of chicken manure (CM), rice straw charcoal (RSCH) "rice straw burned anaerobic"; sugar beet straw compost (SBSC) and sugar lime (SL) on physical and chemical properties of a calcareous sandy clay loam soil. A pot experiment using a soil collected from (0-15 cm) surface soil from Maryut was carried out in the greenhouse to study the effect of organic materials as a natural organic conditioners on some physical and chemical properties of the soil. The soil was packed in plastic pots of 5 kg capacity. The experimental design was a randomized complete block, factorial; involving two factors: 1) The organic soil conditioner 2) The rate of addition: There were three rates i.e. 2,4, 8 % (w/w). A no-organic matter treatment (i.e. no addition of organic conditioners) was also, carried out. Organic materials were added and thoroughly mixed with the soil of each pot. All pots were watered to maintain the soil moisture content at about field capacity. After preparation, soil pots were left without cultivation for one year, at the end of which samples were taken for analysis. The obtained results could be summarized as follows: 1- Organic material decreased soil bulk density and increased total porosity. Volume drainable pores (VDP) was decreased with addition of all the organic material except for with rice straw charcoal which increased it; water holding pores (WHP) and fine capillary pores (FCP) were increased with addition of organic materials except for with rice straw charcoal where they decreased. This reflected on the hydraulic conductivity (HC) of the soil which increased from 0.62 to 6.51 cm/hr. at R3 addition. 2 - Soil water content at field capacity, wilting point as well as the available water contents were increased due to addition of the conditioners except for with the rice straw charcoal which decreased them. 1- Soil salinity and organic matter increased and soil pH decreased due to addition of the conditioners. It could be concluded that addition of such organic materials to the calcareous soil had a favorable effect on its physical and chemical properties through increasing the hydraulic conductivity (HC), available water, organic matter content and decreasing soil pH which in turn will be reflected on increasing the availability of nutrients for the growing plants and hence the yield. The effect of these materials depend on the kind and the rate of applied conditioners. Also, the utilization of these organic materials as a soil conditioners in the newly reclaimed soils or for conditioning the soils under reclamation decrease the environmental pollution.