Particle Size Imbalance Index from Compositional Analysis to Evaluate Cereal Sustainability for Arid Soils in Eastern Algeria

Siham Zaaboubi, Lotfi Khiari, Salah Abdesselam, Jacques Gallichand, Fassil Kebede and Ghouati Kerrache
Additional contact information
Siham Zaaboubi: LAPAPEZA Laboratory, Department of Agriculture, Institute of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, Batna 1 University, aisles May 19, Route de Biskra, Batna 05000, Algeria
Lotfi Khiari: Soil and Fertilizer Research in Africa, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Lot 660, Hay Moulay Rachid, Ben Guerir 43150, Morocco
Salah Abdesselam: LAPAPEZA Laboratory, Department of Agriculture, Institute of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, Batna 1 University, aisles May 19, Route de Biskra, Batna 05000, Algeria
Jacques Gallichand: Department of Soils and Food Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Paul-Comtois Building. 2425, Rue de l’Agriculture, Laval University, Quebec, QC G1A 0A6, Canada
Fassil Kebede: Soil and Fertilizer Research in Africa, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Lot 660, Hay Moulay Rachid, Ben Guerir 43150, Morocco
Ghouati Kerrache: LAPAPEZA Laboratory, Department of Agriculture, Institute of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, Batna 1 University, aisles May 19, Route de Biskra, Batna 05000, Algeria

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 7, 1-10

Abstract: For homogeneous fertilization and crop management practices, this work hypothesized that texture could influence cereal yield, particularly in dry regions. Particle size analysis could help improve knowledge of the soil-plant relationship to obtain favorable conditions for better yield. The objective of this work is to develop a single granulometric index for durum wheat ( Triticum durum ) that is well correlated with yield. For this purpose, 350 independent samples of cereal soils from eastern Algeria were taken and the recorded yields were linked to these samples. The cutoff yield, which separates sub-populations with acceptable yield from those with less acceptable yield, was determined from the inflection point of the cumulative variance ratio functions related to yield by the Richards’ equation. The result obtained is 2.0 Mg.ha −1 , with a theoretical critical chi-square value of 4.2, close to 4.6, which is the critical value of r 2 granulo as obtained by the Cate-Nelson procedure. The five-granulometric indices were found to be symmetrical around zero as follows: ±0.83 for clay (I C ), ±1.73 for fine silt (I FL ), ±0.31 for coarse silt (I CL ), ±0.44 for fine sand (I FS ), and ±1.30 for coarse sand (I CS ). The two fractions that most influence the textural imbalance are fine silt (I FL ) and coarse sand (I CS ), with a contribution of 41% and 37%, respectively. The critical single imbalance index r g r a n u l o 2 can be used for determining cereal suitability for soils in the arid region of eastern Algeria. The lower the r g r a n u l o 2 is, the better the soil for cereal crops.

Keywords: soil texture; compositional analysis; durum wheat; eastern Algeria (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/10/7/296/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/10/7/296/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:10:y:2020:i:7:p:296-:d:384432

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().