Physicochemical characteristics, microelements and bacterial population density in the soils of Wadi Al-Adairey, Hail , Saudi Arabia

ABDEL MONEIM ELHADI SULIEMAN; ADULLAH SULIMAN ALSHAMMAI; NAIMAH ASID ALANAZY; NAWAF IBRAHIM ALSHMMARI; MESHARY ALAZMI; GAMAL ALBADRI; WALEED SABRI; NABIL HAMID BESHIR

doi:10.30848/PJB2023-1(10)

The present study determined the physicochemical characteristics, minerals, and coliform bacteria in the soil samples of Wadi Al-Adairey, Hail region. Sandy texture (90 %) dominated the soil samples containing a very low concentration of microelements. The concentrations of copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), zinc (Zn), and cadmium (Cd) were noted to be 0.5, 0.37, 0.24, 0.24, 0.71, 0.008 mg/L, respectively. The microbiological analysis revealed the absence of coliform bacteria in most of the soil samples except the samples from section (5) at a site depth of 25-55 cm. These samples contained high numbers of coliforms (9.3X102), faecal coliforms (4.3X102), and E.coli (5.5x102), which respectively decreased to 4.6x102, 2.3x102, and 3.2x102.