IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i4p1824-d495556.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quantitative Evaluation of Soil Quality Using Principal Component Analysis: The Case Study of El-Fayoum Depression Egypt

Author

Listed:
  • Mohamed K. Abdel-Fattah

    (Soil Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt)

  • Elsayed Said Mohamed

    (National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences, Cairo 11843, Egypt)

  • Enas M. Wagdi

    (Soil Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt)

  • Sahar A. Shahin

    (Soils and Water Use Department, Agriculture and Biological Division, National Research Center, Cairo 12622, Egypt)

  • Ali A. Aldosari

    (Geography Department, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia)

  • Rosa Lasaponara

    (Italian National Research Council, C.da Santa Loja, Tito Scalo, 85050 Potenza, Italy)

  • Manal A. Alnaimy

    (Soil Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt)

Abstract

Soil quality assessment is the first step towards precision farming and agricultural management. In the present study, a multivariate analysis and geographical information system (GIS) were used to assess and map a soil quality index (SQI) in El-Fayoum depression in the Western Desert of Egypt. For this purpose, a total of 36 geo-referenced representative soil samples (0–0.6 m) were collected and analyzed according to standardized protocols. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the dataset into new variables, to avoid multi-collinearity, and to determine relative weights ( Wi ) and soil indicators (Si), which were used to obtain the soil quality index (SQI). The zones of soil quality were determined using principal component scores and cluster analysis of soil properties. A soil quality index map was generated using a geostatistical approach based on ordinary kriging (OK) interpolation. The results show that the soil data can be classified into three clusters: Cluster I represents about 13.89% of soil samples, Cluster II represents about 16.6% of samples, and Cluster III represents the rest of the soil data (69.44% of samples). In addition, the simulation results of cluster analysis using the Monte Carlo method show satisfactory results for all clusters. The SQI results reveal that the study area is classified into three zones: very good, good, and fair soil quality. The areas categorized as very good and good quality occupy about 14.48% and 50.77% of the total surface investigated, and fair soil quality (mainly due to salinity and low soil nutrients) constitutes about 34.75%. As a whole, the results indicate that the joint use of PCA and GIS allows for an accurate and effective assessment of the SQI.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohamed K. Abdel-Fattah & Elsayed Said Mohamed & Enas M. Wagdi & Sahar A. Shahin & Ali A. Aldosari & Rosa Lasaponara & Manal A. Alnaimy, 2021. "Quantitative Evaluation of Soil Quality Using Principal Component Analysis: The Case Study of El-Fayoum Depression Egypt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:1824-:d:495556
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/1824/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/1824/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Binh Thai Pham & Trung Nguyen-Thoi & Hai-Bang Ly & Manh Duc Nguyen & Nadhir Al-Ansari & Van-Quan Tran & Tien-Thinh Le, 2020. "Extreme Learning Machine Based Prediction of Soil Shear Strength: A Sensitivity Analysis Using Monte Carlo Simulations and Feature Backward Elimination," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-29, March.
    2. Atanu Mukherjee & Rattan Lal, 2014. "Comparison of Soil Quality Index Using Three Methods," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(8), pages 1-15, August.
    3. Ehab Hendawy & A. A. Belal & E. S. Mohamed & Abdelaziz Elfadaly & Beniamino Murgante & Ali A. Aldosari & Rosa Lasaponara, 2019. "The Prediction and Assessment of the Impacts of Soil Sealing on Agricultural Land in the North Nile Delta (Egypt) Using Satellite Data and GIS Modeling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-17, August.
    4. Sameh Kotb Abd-Elmabod & Noura Bakr & Miriam Muñoz-Rojas & Paulo Pereira & Zhenhua Zhang & Artemi Cerdà & Antonio Jordán & Hani Mansour & Diego De la Rosa & Laurence Jones, 2019. "Assessment of Soil Suitability for Improvement of Soil Factors and Agricultural Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-21, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yingying Xing & Ning Wang & Xiaoli Niu & Wenting Jiang & Xiukang Wang, 2021. "Assessment of Potato Farmland Soil Nutrient Based on MDS-SQI Model in the Loess Plateau," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-13, April.
    2. Ahmed S Abuzaid & Yasser S. A. Mazrou & Ahmed A El Baroudy & Zheli Ding & Mohamed S. Shokr, 2022. "Multi-Indicator and Geospatial Based Approaches for Assessing Variation of Land Quality in Arid Agroecosystems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-19, May.
    3. Mostafa A. Abdellatif & Ahmed A. El Baroudy & Muhammad Arshad & Esawy K. Mahmoud & Ahmed M. Saleh & Farahat S. Moghanm & Kamal H. Shaltout & Ebrahem M. Eid & Mohamed S. Shokr, 2021. "A GIS-Based Approach for the Quantitative Assessment of Soil Quality and Sustainable Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-24, December.
    4. Inna Z. Kamanina & Wael M. Badawy & Svetlana P. Kaplina & Oleg A. Makarov & Sergey V. Mamikhin, 2023. "Assessment of Soil Potentially Toxic Metal Pollution in Kolchugino Town, Russia: Characteristics and Pollution," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-16, February.
    5. Mohamed S. Shokr & Mostafa. A. Abdellatif & Ahmed A. El Baroudy & Abdelrazek Elnashar & Esmat F. Ali & Abdelaziz A. Belal & Wael. Attia & Mukhtar Ahmed & Ali A. Aldosari & Zoltan Szantoi & Mohamed E. , 2021. "Development of a Spatial Model for Soil Quality Assessment under Arid and Semi-Arid Conditions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-15, March.
    6. Elsayed A. Abdelsamie & Mostafa A. Abdellatif & Farag O. Hassan & Ahmed A. El Baroudy & Elsayed Said Mohamed & Dmitry E. Kucher & Mohamed S. Shokr, 2022. "Integration of RUSLE Model, Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques for Assessing Soil Erosion Hazards in Arid Zones," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19, December.
    7. Elsayed M. Ramadan & Abir M. Badr & Fadi Abdelradi & Abdelazim Negm & Ahmed M. Nosair, 2023. "Detection of Groundwater Quality Changes in Minia Governorate, West Nile River," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-26, February.
    8. Mostafa A. Abdellatif & Farag O. Hassan & Heba S. A. Rashed & Ahmed A. El Baroudy & Elsayed Said Mohamed & Dmitry E. Kucher & Sameh Kotb Abd-Elmabod & Mohamed S. Shokr & Ahmed S. Abuzaid, 2023. "Assessing Soil Organic Carbon Pool for Potential Climate-Change Mitigation in Agricultural Soils—A Case Study Fayoum Depression, Egypt," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-19, September.
    9. Xianglong Fan & Pan Gao & Li Zuo & Long Duan & Hao Cang & Mengli Zhang & Qiang Zhang & Ze Zhang & Xin Lv & Lifu Zhang, 2023. "Soil Quality Evaluation for Cotton Fields in Arid Region Based on Graph Convolution Network," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-18, October.
    10. Manal A. Alnaimy & Sahar A. Shahin & Ahmed A. Afifi & Ahmed A. Ewees & Natalia Junakova & Magdalena Balintova & Mohamed Abd Elaziz, 2022. "Spatio Prediction of Soil Capability Modeled with Modified RVFL Using Aptenodytes Forsteri Optimization and Digital Soil Assessment Technique," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-20, November.
    11. Ahmed M. Aggag & Abdulaziz Alharbi, 2022. "Spatial Analysis of Soil Properties and Site-Specific Management Zone Delineation for the South Hail Region, Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-19, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wael Mostafa & Zenhom Magd & Saif M. Abo Khashaba & Belal Abdelaziz & Ehab Hendawy & Abdelaziz Elfadaly & Mohsen Nabil & Dmitry E. Kucher & Shuisen Chen & Elsayed Said Mohamed, 2023. "Impacts of Human Activities on Urban Sprawl and Land Surface Temperature in Rural Areas, a Case Study of El-Reyad District, Kafrelsheikh Governorate, Egypt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-19, September.
    2. Amr A. Hammam & Elsayed Said Mohamed & Ashraf E. El-Namas & Sameh Kotb Abd-Elmabod & Rasha M. Badr Eldin, 2022. "Impacted Application of Water-Hyacinth-Derived Biochar and Organic Manures on Soil Properties and Barley Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-18, October.
    3. Radwa A. El Behairy & Ahmed A. El Baroudy & Mahmoud M. Ibrahim & Elsayed Said Mohamed & Dmitry E. Kucher & Mohamed S. Shokr, 2022. "Assessment of Soil Capability and Crop Suitability Using Integrated Multivariate and GIS Approaches toward Agricultural Sustainability," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-18, July.
    4. Zeyu Shi & Zhongke Bai & Donggang Guo & Meijing Chen, 2021. "Develop a Soil Quality Index to Study the Results of Black Locust on Soil Quality below Different Allocation Patterns," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-16, July.
    5. Aditi Sengupta & Priyanka Kushwaha & Antonia Jim & Peter A. Troch & Raina Maier, 2020. "New Soil, Old Plants, and Ubiquitous Microbes: Evaluating the Potential of Incipient Basaltic Soil to Support Native Plant Growth and Influence Belowground Soil Microbial Community Composition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-18, May.
    6. Hai-Bang Ly & Tien-Thinh Le & Huong-Lan Thi Vu & Van Quan Tran & Lu Minh Le & Binh Thai Pham, 2020. "Computational Hybrid Machine Learning Based Prediction of Shear Capacity for Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete Beams," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-34, March.
    7. Park, Dojin, 2021. "The Valuation of Soil Health Improvements and Ecosystem Services among Crop Producers in the U.S," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 314032, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Pushpanjali & Josily Samuel & Prabhat Kumar Pankaj & Konda Srinivas Reddy & Karunakaran Karthikeyan & Ardha Gopala Krishna Reddy & Jagriti Rohit & Kotha Sammi Reddy & Vinod Kumar Singh, 2023. "Fodder Grass Strips: An Affordable Technology for Sustainable Rainfed Agriculture in India," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-14, January.
    9. David B Lobell & George Azzari & Marshall Burke & Sydney Gourlay & Zhenong Jin & Talip Kilic & Siobhan Murray, 2020. "Eyes in the Sky, Boots on the Ground: Assessing Satellite‐ and Ground‐Based Approaches to Crop Yield Measurement and Analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(1), pages 202-219, January.
    10. Helen Onyeaka & Phemelo Tamasiga & Uju Mary Nwauzoma & Taghi Miri & Uche Chioma Juliet & Ogueri Nwaiwu & Adenike A. Akinsemolu, 2023. "Using Artificial Intelligence to Tackle Food Waste and Enhance the Circular Economy: Maximising Resource Efficiency and Minimising Environmental Impact: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-20, July.
    11. Gourlay, Sydney & Kilic, Talip & Lobell, David B., 2019. "A new spin on an old debate: Errors in farmer-reported production and their implications for inverse scale - Productivity relationship in Uganda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    12. Salman A. H. Selmy & Salah H. Abd Al-Aziz & Raimundo Jiménez-Ballesta & Francisco Jesús García-Navarro & Mohamed E. Fadl, 2021. "Soil Quality Assessment Using Multivariate Approaches: A Case Study of the Dakhla Oasis Arid Lands," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-22, October.
    13. Collins-Sowah, Peron A. & Henning, Christian H. C. A., 2019. "Risk management and its implications on household incomes," Working Papers of Agricultural Policy WP2019-05, University of Kiel, Department of Agricultural Economics, Chair of Agricultural Policy.
    14. Maurício R Cherubin & Douglas L Karlen & Carlos E P Cerri & André L C Franco & Cássio A Tormena & Christian A Davies & Carlos C Cerri, 2016. "Soil Quality Indexing Strategies for Evaluating Sugarcane Expansion in Brazil," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(3), pages 1-26, March.
    15. Sydney Gourlay & Talip Kilic, 2023. "Is dirt cheap? The economic costs of failing to meet soil health requirements on smallholder farms," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(6), pages 793-818, November.
    16. Stevens, Andrew W., 2018. "Review: The economics of soil health," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1-9.
    17. Ismail Abd-Elaty & Alban Kuriqi & Abeer El Shahawy, 2022. "Environmental rethinking of wastewater drains to manage environmental pollution and alleviate water scarcity," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 110(3), pages 2353-2380, February.
    18. Laís Coutinho Zayas Jimenez & Hermano Melo Queiroz & Maurício Roberto Cherubin & Tiago Osório Ferreira, 2022. "Applying the Soil Management Assessment Framework (SMAF) to Assess Mangrove Soil Quality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-12, March.
    19. Aldrin Martin Perez-Marin & Jhony Vendruscolo & Jhonatan Rafael Zárate-Salazar & Heithor Alexandre De Araújo Queiroz & Daniel Lima Magalhães & Rômulo S. C. Menezes & Izaias Médice Fernandes, 2022. "Monitoring Desertification Using a Small Set of Biophysical Indicators in the Brazilian Semiarid Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-24, August.
    20. Phong Tung Nguyen & Duong Hai Ha & Abolfazl Jaafari & Huu Duy Nguyen & Tran Van Phong & Nadhir Al-Ansari & Indra Prakash & Hiep Van Le & Binh Thai Pham, 2020. "Groundwater Potential Mapping Combining Artificial Neural Network and Real AdaBoost Ensemble Technique: The DakNong Province Case-study, Vietnam," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-20, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:1824-:d:495556. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.