Soil Physiochemical Properties in Relation to Heavy Metals Status of Agricultural Soils in El-Minia Governorate, Egypt.

This researchconducted to evaluate the relationship between status of total and available Cr,Cd, Ni and Pb and physiochemical properties of different agricultural soils of El-Minia Governorate, Egypt. To realize this goal, combined twenty one surface soil samples (30-cm depth) signifying the main soil great groups of El-Minia Governorate were collected and tested for different soil properties in relation toheavy metals status of soil.Positive and negative high significant correlations were found between total and available soil contents of all studied heavy elements and soil physiochemical properties.Statistical analyses show that, total and available Cr, Cd, Ni and Pb are positively high significant correlated with CEC cmol_ckg^-1, OM %, WHC%, silt % and clay % but negatively significant correlated with sand % and soil reaction (pH). The total and available Cr, Cd, Ni and Pb were positively but not significantly correlated with the soil property of EC (dSm^-1), while negatively but not significantly correlated with CaCO₃%, indicating difficulty of predicting the availability of these heavy metals from these soil properties. Concentrations of total and available Cr, Ni, Cd and Pb in the cultivated soilscollected from Nile West and Nile East were less than the critical values for plant growth. However, concentrations of Cr, Ni, Cd and Pb in cultivated soils collected from the NileValley surpassed the critical values for plant growth in general. Attentions should be alarmed to prevent the continuous accumulation of these metals in agricultural soils by anthropogenic activities and agricultural management, which may lastlyinitiate the soil pollution at a toxic level. In the future, using such agricultural soils for cultivation of edible crops may give rise to chronic health risks to human if not managed properly.