الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract 1. INTRODUCTION Egypt is the most populous country in the Arab World. The total area of Egypt is about a million square kilometers of which desert and uninhabited lands represent about 95 percent (FAO, 2015). This unbalanced distribution as well as overpopulation cause serious socioeconomically problems such as rising living standards, high unemployment and the increase of crime rate. Food scarcity and continuous loss of agricultural lands are issues of global concern. Egyptian government adopted policies that aim to self-sufficiency in food production, e.g. extension of cultivated land and maximization of production of the existing agricultural land. Soil quality is “the capacity of a soil to function within land use and ecosystem boundaries, to sustain biological productivity, maintain environmental quality and promote plant, animal and human health” (Doran and Jones, 1997). With respect to agriculture, soil quality would be the soil’s fitness to support crop growth without becoming degraded or otherwise harming the environment. Climate change is also likely to affect soil quality by depleting organic |