Soil chemical properties and growth of cotton plant grown on saline-sodic soil treated with traditional and non-traditional amendments and irrigated with wastewater

Abstract

One of the well known salt affected soils in Egypt is El-Hosinia area. El-Hosinia plain is located in the northeastern part of the Nile Delta, Sharkia Governorate and is considered one of the main promising areas for agriculture, and the reuse of wastewater in agriculture has been practiced in it. Wastewater, mostly without pretreatment, has been used in some locations such as Bahr El-Baqar drain area. This wastewater transports high amounts of salts and potential toxic substances including trace elements. Some chemical characteristics including pH, EC, soluble ions, SAR and ESP through equilibration column experiment were estimated as affected by applying certain usual amendments i.e. gypsum and citric acid as well as unusual ones i.e. byproduct, waste product rich in Ca from citric acid company (B.C.C.), to the tested soil of Bahr El-Baqar area as well as yield and elemental composition of cotton plants under irrigation with tap water as a control and Bahr El-Baqar drain water. Results showed that the studied soil chemical characteristics were improved by application of each amendment under irrigation with tap water or Bahr El-Baqar drain water, with better effect under irrigation with tap water. The dry weight, weight of 1000 seeds and NPK content in cotton seeds yield were significantly increased due to application of these amendments compared with control. Moreover, the positive effect of byproduct from citric acid company rich in Ca (B.C.C.) lied between gypsum and citric acid application, thus, this amendment could be used in improving sodic soils.