World Soils Book Series

Series editor

Prof. Alfred E. HarteminkDepartment of Soil Science, FD Hole Soils LaboratoryUniversity of Wisconsin–MadisonMadisonUSA

The World Soils Book Series publishes books containing details on soils of a particularcountry. They include sections on soil research history, climate, geology, geomorphology,major soil types, soil maps, soil properties, soil classification, soil fertility, land use andvegetation, soil management, soils and humans, soils and industry, future soil issues. Thebooks summarize what is known about the soils in a particular country in a concise and highlyreader-friendly way. The series contains both single and multi-authored books as well asedited volumes. There is additional scope for regional studies within the series, particularlywhen covering large land masses (for example, The Soils of Texas, The Soils of California),however, these will be assessed on an individual basis.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8915

Hassan El-Ramady � Tarek AlshaalNoura Bakr � Tamer ElbanaElsayed Mohamed � Abdel-Aziz BelalEditors

The Soils of Egypt

123

EditorsHassan El-RamadySoil and Water Department,Faculty of Agriculture

Kafrelsheikh UniversityKafr El-Sheikh, Egypt

Tarek AlshaalSoil and Water Department,Faculty of Agriculture

Kafrelsheikh UniversityKafr El-Sheikh, Egypt

Noura BakrSoils and Water Use Department,Biological and Agricultural Division

National Research CentreGiza, Egypt

Tamer ElbanaSoils and Water Use Department,Biological and Agricultural Division

National Research CentreGiza, Egypt

Elsayed MohamedDivision of Agriculture Applicationsand Soil Science

National Authority for Remote Sensingand Space Sciences (NARSS)

Cairo, Egypt

Abdel-Aziz BelalDivision of Agriculture Applicationsand Soil Science

National Authority for Remote Sensingand Space Sciences (NARSS)

Cairo, Egypt

ISSN 2211-1255 ISSN 2211-1263 (electronic)World Soils Book SeriesISBN 978-3-319-95515-5 ISBN 978-3-319-95516-2 (eBook)https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95516-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018947479

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material isconcerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproductionon microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronicadaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does notimply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws andregulations and therefore free for general use.The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believedto be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty,express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have beenmade. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutionalaffiliations.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AGThe registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

This book is dedicated to our families

All photos by El-Ramady

Foreword I

This book is long overdue. Its most immediate didactic value resides in helping the reader tounderstand the concept and state of the art of soils from Egypt. The book thus fills an obviousneed for a systematic account of concept of soil science in Middle East to facilitate the practiceof science.

Specifically, the book covers extremely important chapters detailing the role of soil use andits relation to human food security, soil pollution, land use and vegetation status, soil biology,and land degradation. The concept of right use of land, cultivating the soil using nutrientlacking in animal and humans, would be a very interesting topic to improve human health.

This book is aimed at researchers and professionals, together with postgraduate students.However, I believe that the material will also stimulate advanced undergraduate students andthose interested in the application of this knowledge.

I think that the authors can be confident that there will be many grateful readers who willhave gained a broader perspective of the disciplines of soil science in Egypt as a result of theirefforts.

São Paulo, Brazil Prof. André Rodrigues dos Reis Ph.D.January 2018 São Paulo State University (UNESP)

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Foreword II

Our Soils: No Longer Crypto-Resources

A careful reflection on the presence and location of the living systems on our planet, includingsoils, leads us to observe—in compliance with the proportions—that they surround the Earthas a thin coating. A few kilometers below the Earth surface, the temperature is too high, whilea few kilometers above the air is too cold and rarefied to allow survival. Between these twolimits affirms animal and plant life. The latter, in particular, constitutes the basis for foodchains, contributes to the water and biochemical cycles, and protects the soil’s life, which isthe base of the biosphere.

Soil develops where the combined actions of atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere acton lithosphere and, together with air and water, completes the triad of the natural resources thatare essential to the life. In a most general sense, soil is the medium that allows plants andanimals to live and develop, and Man to carry out all his activities. From time to time, and inrelation to his needs, Man has considered soil as a mean of agricultural and forestry pro-duction, a seat of urban and infrastructure settlements, a place of leisure and sport, a source ofraw materials, and in summary, a source of goods and services useful to human life.

Soils fulfill basic functions for the human society, not only in practice because they satisfyhuman’s material needs but also in the abstract, stimulate intellectual activity or indulgingneeds of spiritual well-being. There are cultural evidences regarding the role of soil throughouthistory and some are still found in the customs, folklore, and traditions of various populationsin several countries. In ancient societies, the soil has always had a privileged position in virtueof its fundamental role of providing foodstuffs. Even today, in various parts of the world,social systems reflect the connections between the soil and the environment, and the man-agement of soil fertility is at the heart of this connection.

Regrettably, “homo technologicus”, descendant of “homo sapiens”, forced to live inever-bigger cities, to feed with ready meals, to breathe air conditioning in hyper-technologicaloffices and impersonal lofts, rarely does he stop and reflect on how much his well-being isfundamentally connected to the soil and to the other primary resources. In the next years,maintaining the welfare and the development of the human societies will largely depend onMan’s ability to ensure the sustainable use of the natural resources, in particular soils.

We live in an era and in a cultural system that pays particular attention to the human rights,but not equally indicates duties and responsibilities. We are able to fight for defending ourprivileges but we wimp out from our duties: our relationship with the environment is char-acterized by a general indifference and a widespread carelessness. Unfortunately, the aware-ness of the role played by the environmental resources and by the soil in particular is lacking.Soil, being a “crypto-resource”, a hidden resource, is considered only after catastrophicevents and when the failures are evident!

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So far, we have shown skill in getting out from situations that the wisdom would havecertainly avoided. It is time to move on by the skill to the wisdom, the same wisdom which hasdriven Aldo Leopold (1886–1948) to argue that “the oldest task of man is to live on the soilwithout despoil it.”

Now it is imperative a cultural leap: we all have to consider the soil as a good for a humansociety that is continuously changing and in which the boost toward a continuous economicgrowth and a rapid technological development, coupled with the progressive increase of theinformation, often causes considerable and unpredictable changes. The achievement of thesegoals is based on a sound and comprehensive knowledge of the soils of each country.

I wish to welcome the book The Soils of Egypt and to congratulate with the authors.

Palermo, Italy Prof. Dr. Carmelo DazziJanuary 2018 President of the European Society

for Soil Conservation (ESSC)

x Foreword II

Preface

It is well known that soils are the main source of our food, feed, fiber, and fuel. So, soils have aholy position in all religions including Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Furthermore, greatcivilizations established depending on soils like the Egyptian civilization. Therefore, this bookThe Soils of Egypt has been written. This book includes soil and its potential from many sidesin Egypt such as climate changes and water crisis, different expected scenarios of climatechange in Egypt, and effects of climate change on crop productivity. Geology and geomor-phology also will be presented as well as major soil types and different soil maps. Soilclassification also will be among the most important subjects and will be highlighted in thisbook. On the other hand, different soil properties and how to sustain these land resources willbe also highlighted. Due to the role of Egyptian soils in the ancient Egyptian civilization, soilfertility and its security will be presented as one of the most important issues. Pollution also asone of the most important and serious problems in Egypt will be highlighted, due to pollutionalready has been penetrated different environmental compartments including soils, waters, andair. Soil pollution and its management as well as different soil pollution sources and thedegradation of Egyptian soils are needed more explanation. Different land uses includingvegetation as well as future soil issues in Egypt will be also reviewed.

This book will present a comprehensive overview and the vital importance of soils toagriculture, ecosystems, and human life in Egypt. The study of soil resources will allow formore researches and management our challenges including improving soil quality and itssustainability, soil carbon sequestration, and wastewater treatment as well as innovativedelivery of nutrients and water for crop production. We also do hope that this book will bringenough knowledge for next generations with continuous delivering proper solutions for dif-ferent environmental challenges, which we are facing now and in the future. Soil resourcescould be conserved and sustained only by understanding different soil properties and itsprocesses occurring in the soils.

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Hassan El-Ramady Tarek Alshaal

Noura Bakr Tamer Elbana

Elsayed Mohamed Abdel-Aziz Belal

Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt Hassan El-RamadyKafr El-Sheikh, Egypt Tarek AlshaalGiza, Egypt Noura BakrGiza, Egypt Tamer ElbanaCairo, Egypt Elsayed MohamedCairo, Egypt Abdel-Aziz BelalJanuary 2018

xii Preface

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Prof. Dr. Alfred. E. Hartemink, who proposed the publi-cation of this volume. Special appreciations for the Springer team including Dr. Robert Doe,Ms. Corina van der Giessen, and Mr. Suresh Rettagunta for their support and help insubmission/production process as well as the typesetting and perform copyediting.

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Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Hassan El-Ramady, Tarek Alshaal, Ahmed S. El-Henawy,and Mohamed S. Shams

2 Soil Research History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Hassan El-Ramady, Tarek Alshaal, and Saber A. Gaheen

3 Egyptian Natural Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Noura Bakr and Mohamed H. Bahnassy

4 Land Use/Land Cover and Vegetation Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Noura Bakr and Mohamed H. Bahnassy

5 Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Samia El-Marsafawy, Noura Bakr, Tamer Elbana, and Hassan El-Ramady

6 Geology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Heba Elbasiouny and Fathy Elbehiry

7 Soil Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Abdel-Aziz Belal, Elsayed Mohamed, Ahmed Saleh, and Mohamed Jalhoum

8 Soil Fertility and Its Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Hassan El-Ramady, Tarek Alshaal, Sarwat Yousef, Shaimaa Elmahdy,Salah E.-D. Faizy, Megahed Amer, Hassan Shams El-Din,Ayman M. El-Ghamry, Ahmed A. Mousa, József Prokisch, and Nicola Senesi

9 Land Degradation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Elsayed Mohamed, Abdel-Aziz Belal, R. R. Ali, Ahmed Saleh,and Ehab A. Hendawy

10 Soil Health and Its Biology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175Tarek Alshaal, Hassan El-Ramady, Nevien Elhawat, Sahar El-Nahrawy,Alaa El-Dein Omara, Tamer Elsakhawy, Azza Ghazi, Mohamed H. Abbas,Ihab M. Farid, Neama Abdalla, Miklós Fári, and Éva Domokos-Szabolcsy

11 Soil Chemical Pollution and Sustainable Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187Tamer Elbana, Hesham M. Gaber, and Fawzy M. Kishk

12 Soils and Humans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201Hassan El-Ramady, Tarek Alshaal, Tamer Elsakhawy, Alaa El-Dein Omara,Neama Abdalla, and Eric C. Brevik

13 Future Soil Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215Hassan El-Ramady, Tarek Alshaal, Hamada Abdelrahman, and Omar El-Hady

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

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Contributors

Mohamed H. Abbas Soils and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Moshtohor, BenhaUniversity, Benha, Egypt

Neama Abdalla Genetic Engineering Division, Plant Biotechnology Department, NationalResearch Center, Giza, Egypt; Plant Biotechnology Department, Genetic Engineering Divi-sion, National Research Center, Giza, Egypt

Hamada Abdelrahman Soils Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza,Egypt

R. R. Ali Soils and Water Use Dept, National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt

Tarek Alshaal Faculty of Agriculture, Soil and Water Department, Kafrelsheikh University,Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt

Megahed Amer Soils, Water and Environment Research Institute (SWERI), AgriculturalResearch Center (ARC), Giza, Egypt

Mohamed H. Bahnassy Soil and Water Sciences Department, Faculty of Agriculture,Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

Noura Bakr Soils and Water Use Department, National Research Centre (NRC), Cairo,Egypt; Biological and Agricultural Division, Soils and Water Use Department, NationalResearch Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt

Abdel-Aziz Belal Division of Agriculture Applications and Soil Science, National Authorityfor Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS), Cairo, Egypt

Eric C. Brevik Department of Natural Sciences, Dickinson State University, Dickinson, ND,USA

Éva Domokos-Szabolcsy Agricultural Botany, Plant Physiology and BiotechnologyDepartment, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary

Tamer Elbana Biological and Agricultural Division, Soils and Water Use Department,National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt

Heba Elbasiouny Environmental and Biological Sciences, Al-Azhar University, Tanta,Egypt

Fathy Elbehiry Central Laboratory of Environmental Studies, Kafr El-Sheikh University,Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt

Ayman M. El-Ghamry Soils Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University,Mansoura, Egypt

Omar El-Hady Biological and Agricultural Division, Soils and Water Use Department,National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt

xvii

Nevien Elhawat Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Al-Azhar University,Cairo, Egypt

Ahmed S. El-Henawy Soil and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, KafrelsheikhUniversity, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt

Shaimaa Elmahdy Soil and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, KafrelsheikhUniversity, Kafr El Sheikh, Egypt

Samia El-Marsafawy Soils, Water and Environment Research Institute, AgriculturalResearch Center, Giza, Egypt

Sahar El-Nahrawy Soils, Water and Environment Research Institute (SWERI), ARC,Sakha, Kafr el-Sheikh, Egypt

Hassan El-Ramady Soil and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, KafrelsheikhUniversity, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt

Tamer Elsakhawy Soils, Water and Environment Research Institute (SWERI), ARC, Sakha,Kafr el-Sheikh, Egypt

Salah E.-D. Faizy Soil and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, KafrelsheikhUniversity, Kafr El Sheikh, Egypt

Miklós Fári Agricultural Botany, Plant Physiology and Biotechnology Department,University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary

Ihab M. Farid Soils and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Moshtohor, BenhaUniversity, Benha, Egypt

Hesham M. Gaber Soil and Water Sciences Department, Faculty of Agriculture, AlexandriaUniversity, Alexandria, Egypt

Saber A. Gaheen Soil and Water Department, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr El-Sheikh,Egypt

Azza Ghazi Soils, Water and Environment Research Institute (SWERI), ARC, Sakha, Kafrel-Sheikh, Egypt

Ehab A. Hendawy Division of Agriculture Applications and Soil Science, NationalAuthority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS), Cairo, Egypt

Mohamed Jalhoum Division of Agriculture Applications and Soil Science, NationalAuthority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS), Cairo, Egypt

Fawzy M. Kishk Soil and Water Sciences Department, Faculty of Agriculture, AlexandriaUniversity, Alexandria, Egypt

Elsayed Mohamed Division of Agriculture Applications and Soil Science, NationalAuthority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS), Cairo, Egypt

Ahmed A. Mousa Soils Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Man-soura, Egypt

Alaa El-Dein Omara Soils, Water and Environment Research Institute (SWERI), ARC,Sakha, Kafr el-Sheikh, Egypt

József Prokisch Nanofood Laboratory, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences andEnvironmental Management, Debrecen University, Debrecen, Hungary

Ahmed Saleh Division of Agriculture Applications and Soil Science, National Authority forRemote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS), Cairo, Egypt

Nicola Senesi Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, University of Bari, Bari, Italy

xviii Contributors

Hassan Shams El-Din Soils, Water and Environment Research Institute (SWERI), Agri-cultural Research Center (ARC), Giza, Egypt

Mohamed S. Shams Soil and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, KafrelsheikhUniversity, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt

Sarwat Yousef Soil and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University,Kafr El Sheikh, Egypt

Contributors xix