Amelioration of saline-sodic soil with gypsum can increase yield and nitrogen use efficiency in rice-wheat cropping system

作者：Murtaza Behzad^*; Murtaza Ghulam; Sabir Muhammad; Owens Gary; Abbas Ghulam; Imran Muhammad; Shah Ghulam Mustafa^*

来源：Archives for Agronomy and Soil Science, 2017, 63(9): 1267-1280.

DOI：10.1080/03650340.2016.1276285

• Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE)
• salt-affected soil
• rice-wheat cropping system
• economic analysis
• gypsum

A 2-year field experiment was conducted to determine crop yield and N use efficiency (NUE) from a saline-sodic soil (clay loam) with and without application of gypsum. Treatments included two N application rates (15% and 30%) higher than the recommended one to the normal soil, and gypsum added at 50% and 100% of soil gypsum requirement (SGR) to the saline-sodic soil, both cultivated with rice and wheat during 2011-2013. Results revealed a decrease in pH of saturated soil paste (pH(s)), electrical conductivity of saturation extract (ECe), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and exchangeable sodium percentage with N fertilizer along with gypsum application in saline-sodic soil. However, the effect was most prominent when gypsum was added at 50% of SGR. Crop yield and NUE remained significantly lower (p<0.05) in saline-sodic-soils as compared to normal soil. However, gypsum application reduced this difference from 47% to 17% since both yield and NUE increased considerably. Crop yield and NUE remained higher for wheat than for rice. During first year, higher doses of N with gypsum application at 50% SGR proved most effective, whereas, in subsequent year, recommended N along with gypsum at 50% SGR became more profitable. All these results lead us to conclude that gypsum application can ameliorate saline-sodic soil thereby increasing crop yield and NUE.

• 出版日期2017