Mohamedin, A.A.M.; A.O.A. Ismail and H. M.M. Seyam ( 2012). Use efficiency of soil amendments and saline water on improving properties and productivity of sodic soilEgypt. J. of Appl. Sci.,(2012) 27 (1):51-60
Abstract: A sodicity phenomenon (rich in exchangeable sodium) is likely a more important problem to mange the areas prolonged to the north coast of Nile Delta, Egypt. However, a field experiment was conducted at El-Riad province close to El-Burouls Lake, Kafr El-Shiekh Governorate. The main target of this work is to evaluate the effect of soil amendments viz. gypsum at application rate of 50% of gypsum requirements (GR=10.4 t/fed), sugar lime (equivalent to GR), farmyard manure (FYM) at a rate of 20 m3/fed.), gypsum+FYM, FYM+sugar lime and a control with saline (ECiw 4 dS/m) or non-saline (0.82 dS/m) irrigation water on some soil properties and yields of rice and wheat in a highly sodic soil (pH >8.5 and ESP 43%). Application of amendments increased the yield of both crops significantly irrespective of the quality of irrigation water used. The effectiveness of the soil amendments on soil and crop improvement could be arranged in the descending order: gypsum+FYM > sugar lime+FYM > gypsum > sugar lime > FYM > control. The reused of drainage water (saline water) resulted in significantly higher yield of both crops as compared to non-saline water. A decrease in soil pH and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) and increase in Ca+Mg and infiltration rate values were pronounced after rice than wheat crop in rotation, particularly, when non-saline water was used. This research reveals to the highly magnitude of reused drainage water as a resource to meet crop water demands applied for supplemental irrigation as well as to accelerate the improvement process in a highly sodic soil and rising its productivity.
Keywords: (Sodic soil, Gypsum, Sugar lime, FYM, Drainage water, Rice and wheat production)
