Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-wp2c8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-17T18:01:56.212Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Soil permeability in the Eastern Gezira

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

H. Greene
Affiliation:
(Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories, Wad Medani, Sudan.)

Extract

An account is given of studies of moisture content in the field. The results are in agreement with Joseph's (1) view that the relation between salt content and fertility is chiefly due to the effect of sodium salts on soil texture. At the Gezira Research Farm a single watering moistens only the top 3 ft. of soil, although in the course of an irrigation season some small percolation continues below this depth. The water requirement of cotton in this region is extremely high and danger of water strain is correspondingly acute. The effect of 14 days' flooding is taken as a measure of permeability in the field and this test was applied with confirmatory results to two areas whose agricultural value had previously been gauged both by laboratory studies and by field observation of the soil profile. The genesis of the Gezira soil is briefly discussed with regard to the relation between salb content and fertility and with regard to the use of gypsum as a corrective. Marked improvements in permeability have been brought about by applications of this substance.

I am indebted to Dr A. F. Joseph, under whose direction this work was done, for his useful suggestions and for facilities placed at my disposal.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1928

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

(1)Joseph, A. F. (1925). “Alkali Investigations in the Sudan.” Journ. Agric. Sci. 15, 407419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2)Climatological Normals for Egypt and the Sudan, Candia, Cyprus and Abyssinia. Govt. Press, Cairo, 1922.Google Scholar
(3)Greene, H. (1928).“A soil boring apparatus.” Journ. Agric. Sci. 18, 515517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(4)Davie, W. A. (1924). The Cultivated Crops of the Sudan including Cotton. Sudan Govt. Dept. of Agriculture and Forests.Google Scholar
(5)Balls, W. L. (19121913). Journ. Agric. Sci. 5, 469482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(6)Joseph, A. F.Report of the Sudan Govt. Chemist for 1920.Google Scholar
(7)Beiggs, L. J. and Shantz, H. L. (1913). U.S. Bureau Plant Ind. Bull. 284.Google Scholar
(8)Beam, W. (1911). Fourth Report of Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories, vol. B, 2384.Google Scholar
(9)Joseph, A. F.Report of the Sudan Govt. Chemist for 1927.Google Scholar