Estimating soil erodible fraction based on basic soil properties in arid lands is a valuable research topic in the field of soil science and land management. The Proximal Sensing (PS) technique offers a non-destructive and efficient method to assess wind erosion potential in arid regions. By using Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) models and combining soil texture and chemical properties, determined through Visible-Near Infrared (vis-NIR) spectroscopy in 96 soil samples, this study aims to predict soil erodibility, soil organic matter (SOM), and calcium carbonate equivalent (CaCO₃) in arid lands located in Elkobaneyya Valley, Aswan Governorate, Egypt. Results showed that the soil erodibility fraction (EF-Factor) had the highest values and possessed a strong relationship between slope and SOM of 0.01% in determining soil erodibility. The PLSR model performed better than SVM for estimating SOM, CaCO₃, and EF-Factor. Furthermore, the results showed that the spectral responses of CaCO₃ were observed in separate places in the wavelengths of 570, 649, 802, 1161, 1421, 1854, and 2362 nm, and the wavelengths with SOM parameter were 496, 658, 779, 1089, 1417, 1871, and 2423 nm. The EF-factor shows the highest significant correlation with spectral reflectance values at 526, 688, 744, 1418, 1442, 2292, and 2374 nm. The accuracy and performance of the PLSR model in estimating the EF-Factor using spectral reflectance data and the distribution of data points for both the calibration and validation data-sets indicate a good accuracy of the PLSR model, with RMSE values of 0.0921 and 0.0836 Mg h MJ⁻¹ mm⁻¹, coefficient of determination (R²) values of 0.931 and 0.76, and RPD values of 2.168 and 2.147, respectively.

Soil management is recognized to have an impact on soil quality attributes. Depending on the management approach, this impact can either degrade or improve soil quality. There is a severe shortage of information on the impacts of cultivation on sandy soil properties in arid desert regions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the short-term cultivation effects (5 years) on the properties’ changes of coarse-textured soil in an arid desert region in western Assiut Governorate, Egypt. The current study was conducted on soils sampled at four depth intervals, namely 0–10, 10–20, 20–30, and 30–40 cm, from both cultivated and uncultivated soils, using a systematic sampling grid (10 × 10 m), to investigate the potential impacts of the cultivation process on six soil attributes. Each land use was represented by an area of 0.5 ha (50 × 100 m). A total of 160 composite soil samples (at all depths) were collected from both soils and analyzed for their physical and chemical properties, employing standard laboratory procedures. The data were statistically and geostatistically analyzed to compare the results and map the spatial distributions of the selected soil properties. The results revealed that cultivation had a considerable positive impact on most of the properties of cultivated soil compared to those of uncultivated soil (virgin land). The findings also showed that the available phosphorus levels in cultivated soil were higher than in virgin soil by 16, 9, 8.5, and 6 folds, with increases in organic matter content of 16.8, 12.4, 11.9, and 7.9 times at depths of 0–10, 10–20, 20–30, and 30–40 cm, respectively. Furthermore, compared to virgin soil, cultivated soil exhibited a salinity reduction of −8.9%, −56.4%, −66.3%, and −71.8%, at depths of 0–10, 10–20, 20–30, and 30–40 cm, respectively. Moreover, some other properties of the cultivated soil improved, particularly in the surface soil layers, such as pH reduction, CaCO₃ decline, and CEC increase, while the soil texture grade did not change. Therefore, continuous monitoring of the effects of diverse soil management strategies in the short term assists in the understanding of the ongoing changes in soil physical and chemical characteristics, which is critical for maintaining satisfactory soil quality and sustainable soil productivity in arid lands.

The two-spotted spider mite, T. urticae, is a significant global agricultural pest. It has become highly resistant to numerous pesticides and is incredibly polyphagous. Herein, five pesticides were tested for their ability to control T. urticae: sulfoxaflor + spinetoram, emamectin benzoate, thiamethoxam, spirodiclofen, and etoxazole in the Manfalout and Qusia districts in Assiut Governorate, Egypt during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The results revealed that all pesticides were effective on T. urticae based on the mean reduction percentage (the ranges were 62.75%-68.00%) during the 2021 season on cucumber plants in Manflout district. Further, the most potent pesticides in Qusia district were thiamethoxam, spirodiclofen, and emamectin benzoate and the mean reduction percentage were 63.39%, 58.31%, and 56.75%, respectively during the 2021 season. In 2022 season, the most toxic pesticides were thiamethoxam, etoxazole, and emamectin benzoate in Manflout district whereas, in Qusia district, the most powerful pesticides were spirodiclofen, etoxazole, and emamectin benzoate and the mean reduction percentage were 60.00%, 57.67%, and 56.75%, respectively. The tested pesticides are an effective tool that can be used in integrated pest management (IPM) programs against T. urticae on cucumber.