Abstract:
Rice-wheat crop rotation is generally practiced under continuous and intermittent ponding conditions in Pakistan and is also considered suitable during reclamation of saline-sodic soils. This experiment was conducted between 2009 and 2010 on a saline-sodic field at Gojra, District Toba Tek Singh, Pakistan. The soil was silty clay loam in texture, poorly drained, salinesodic and developed in calcareous mixed alluvium developed during Pleistocene era. The experiment was replicated thrice in split plot design. There were three water treatments, namely canal water (CW), brackish water (BW) and CW + BW (1:1). Amendments used were: Control (without amendment), Gypsum @ 100% SGR, Farm manure @10 t ha-1, Mulching @ 10 t ha-1 . The soil reclamation with respect to pHs, ECe and SAR remained considerably better with the application of gypsum and FM with all the irrigation waters. It was concluded that one irrigation with SSW and one with CW is better for initial reclamation of silty clay loam soil by following rice-wheat cropping rotation. The salt leaching efficiency decreased over time, being highest after rice crop and decreased with time. Gypsum and FM application significantly increased crop yields even irrigating with SSW. Net benefit (Rs ha-1) from rice-wheat crops was the highest with FM receiving SSW-CW followed by gypsum. It was concluded that gypsum and FM amendments are important for growing rice-wheat crops during soil reclamation, even if saline-sodic water is used for irrigation.
Page(s):
38-46
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, Volume: 14, Issue: 1, Year: 2012