research on crop water use, salt affected soils and drainage

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RESEARCH ON
CROP WATER USE, SALT AFFECTED SOILS
AND DRAINAGE
IN THE ARAB REPUBLIC OF E G Y PT
A REVIEW WITH RECOMMENDATIONS
iRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS 1975
311
FRONT COVER: Date palms
BACK COVER: Coin issued by the Arab Republic of Egypt,
illustrating the Aswan High Dam.
The Arabic legend reads "Produce more food."
Rasaarch on crop water use, sal« affected aoila and drainaga
in the Arab Republic of Egypt

RESEARCH ON CROP WATER USE, SALT AFFECTED SOILS
AND DRAINAGE IN THE ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT
a review with recommendations
A. ABOUKHALED, A. ARAR, A.M. BALBA, B.G. BISHAY,
L.T. KADRY, P.E. RUTEMA and A. TAHER
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
NEAR EAST REGIONAL OFFICE
CAIRO, t978
NOTICE
The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion
whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any
country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
This Report was written in 1973 by
Dr. A. ABOUKHALED Regional Water Management Officer and FAO Consultant, FAO Regional Office, Cairo, Egypt
Mr. A. ARAR Regional Land and Water Development Officer, FAO Regional Office, Cairo, Egypt
Dr. A.M. BALBA Professor of Soil Science, College of Agriculture, University of Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt
Dt. B.G. BISHAY Land Drainage Research Officer, Land and Water Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture,
Cairo, Egypt
Dr. L.T. KADRY Regional Soils Specialist, I'AO Regional Office, Cairo, Egypt
Dr. P.E. R1JTEMA FAO Consultant; Principal Scientist, Institute for Land and Water Management Research,
Wageningen, The Netherlands
Dr. A. TAHER Soil Physics Research Officer, Land and Water Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture,
Cairo, Egypt
and in 1974 on request of FAO edited by
Ir. E.W. SCHIERBEEK MSF Principal Scientist, Institute for Land and Water Management Research, Wageningen,
The Netherlands
On request of FAO designed and composed in 1974/75 Printed in Italy
by the Institute for Land and Water Management
Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands © FAO 1975
PREFACE
In Egypt research on soil science and related At its first meeting on January 17, 1973, the
fields of science has been carried out since the es committee, realizing that comprehensively reviewing
tablishment of the 'Agricultural Chemistry Section' all experimental work done in Egypt in the mentioned
of the Ministry of Agriculture early in this century. fields would be too time consuming, set itself, with
When the Departments of Soils in the Colleges of Ag out claiming to give a full coverage, the following
riculture came into being such research was also done objectives:
as part of the requirements to obtain M.Sc. and Ph.D.
degrees. The research results are therefore to be - To establish a standardized card system giving an
found in many local and foreign journals, theses and outline of each item reviewed, allowing the addition
reports. of items and updating in the future.
Dr. M.M. EL GABALY, former Minister of Agricul - To write a discussion and re-interpretation of the
ture and Land Reclamation, and Dr. K. STINO, former available data on crop water use.
Superintendent of the Agricultural Research Centre, - To give general outlines of the works reviewed in
expressed the need of having a review of the work each field, with the pertinent references.
done, to be able to better understand the existing - To write general discussions of and comments on the
problems, to gain an insight in the research neces work done in each field.
sary in the future and to have a basis to establish - To give recommendations concerning further work in
a comprehensive research programme. They also pointed the mentioned fields of study and the requirements
out that priority for such a review should be given to achieve satisfactory results.
to the research done on crop water use, on salt af
To this end the committee set up three groups:
fected soils and on drainage.
FAO responded to this wish by appointing Dr. - a crop water use group consisting of Dr. RIJTEMA and
RIJTEMA as Consultant to participate during two months Dr. ABOUKHALED;
in making a review of the work done in Egypt in the - a salt affected soils group consisting of Dr. BALBA,
three mentioned fields and particularly to re-inter Dr. KADRY and Dr. TAHER;
pret the existing data on crop water use. A committee - a drainage group consisting of Mr. ARRAR and Dr.
was formed in which were nominated by FAO: Dr. BISHAY.
ABOUKHALED, Mr. ARRAR, Dr. KADRY and Dr. RIJTEMA, and
by the Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation
Efforts were made to have the reports of these
of Egypt: Dr. BALBA, Dr. BISHAY and Dr. TAHER.
three groups contain as much information as possible
The duties of this committee were stated by the to obtain in the limited amount of time on published
former Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation work as well as recent unpublished data of studies
as being to: still in progress. The committee visited several in
stitutes and research stations to receive information
- review and evaluate the past work in the above men
on the work in progress and to assess the now availa
tioned fields;
ble equipment as well as future equipment requirements.
- visit several research institutes and experimental
In this context the committee wishes to express its
stations;
gratitude for the aid and cooperation given by the
- suggest further studies in these fields and evalu
members of institutes and experimental stations in
ate the requirements of the research centres to be
Egypt in collecting published research «id in giving
able to carry out these studies.
freely access to unpublished data relevant to the com
mittee's task. To research workers whose work is not
covered in this review although it should have been,
the comnittee extends its apologies; within the given
time it was not possible to write a really exhaustive
review. Thanks are also due to the constructive ef
forts made by the Foreign Agricultural Relations Of
fice of the Ministry of Agriculture of Egypt and the
Secretariat of the FAO Regional Office in Cairo on
behalf of the comnittee.
The members of the comnittee frequently gathered
in working sessions to discuss the various subjects
investigated and the advances made.
This report, to be submitted together with the
established card system to the Minister of Agricul
ture and Agrarian Reform, the Minister of Land Recla
mation and the FAO Regional Office in Cairo, contains
in sequence: the conspectus of the committee's recom
mendations, the report on research in the field of
crop water use, the report on research in the field
of salt affected soils and the report on research in
the field of drainage. A list of references is in
cluded in each report.
The comnittee expresses its hope that this re
view with recommendations will benefit Egypt as well
as other countries in the same region.
C O N T E N TS
page
GENERAL RECOMENuATIONS by THE a**ÖTTEE 1
Training 1
Research coördinatie« 1
Existing research organizations 1
Creation pilot areas 2
Research application 2
Soil survey and classification 2
Crop water use 3
Salt affected soils 3
Drainage 4
CHOP WATER USE by P-E. RIJTEMA and A. ABOUKHALED 5
Introduction 5
Meteorological data 6
Available measured data 6
Subdivision in agroclimatological areas 11
Calculation of additional data IS
Calculation of crop water use 18
General approach' 18
Maximum water use 19
With full cover 19
With partial cover 20
Tables of atmospheric evaporative demand 21
Actual water use 32
Simplified approach 32
Estimation of soil and crop factors 34
Tables of available non-stress soil moisture 35
Relationship between water use and crop production 38
Effect of light and CCL-diffusion on dry matter production 38
Evapotranspiration and dry matter production 40
Evapotranspiration, fertility level and production 40
Effect of soil water potential on marketable production 40
Review and evaluation of experimental data on cotton and corn 41
Cotton 41
Existing data 41
Maximum évapotranspiration and irrigation interval 43
Production 44
page
Com 45
Existing data 45
Maximum évapotranspiration and irrigation interval 46
Production 47
Review of experimental data on other crops 48
Water use data 48
Soil - water relationships 53
Recommendations for applied irrigation research 53
Experimental setup S3
Measurements and observations 54
Soil and crop 54
Environment 55
Summary 56
References 57 .
SALT AFFECTED SOILS by A.M. BALBA, L.T. KADRY and A. TAHER 62
Introduction 62
Review of published work 62
Field investigations, soil survey and classification 62
Field investigations 62
Soil survey and classification 63
Soil reclamation and improvement 64
General 64
Leaching processes 64
Amelioration of sodic soils 64
Water quality, physico-chemical and physical interactions 65
Role of irrigation water 65
Effect of physical properties 65
Role of groundwater 66
Chemistry and thermodynamics 66
Clay mineralogy 66
Crop - water - soil fertility interactions 67
Tolerance of crops 67
Crop - water interactions 68
Crop - soil fertility interactions 68
Cultural practices 69
Discussion 70
General 70
Field investigations, soil survey and classification 70
Soil reclamation and improvement 71
Water quality, physico-chemical and physical interactions 71
Crop - water - soil fertility interactions 72
Recctrnendations 72
General 72
Investigations 73
Soil reclamation and improvement 73