The salt tolerance of crops has usually been studied under optimal fertility conditions. The objectives of the present studies were to compare crop response to salinity when nutrients were limiting, adequate, or in excess to guide proper fertilization of saline soils and to determine whether additional fertilizer could restore yield losses caused by salinity. Corn (Zea mays L.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), and six vegetable crops were grown to maturity in large, outdoor sand cultures to study the interactive effects of salinity and nutrition. Increasing levels of phosphate (0.1 to 2.0 mM) aggravated salt injury in corn and decreased salt tolerance. Decreasing solution K from 2 to 0.4 meq/liter did not affect leaf K or yield of corn. Deficient levels of P or N did not consistently decrease salt tolerance of any of the crops studied, although the wheat and barley varieties showed erratic decreases in salt tolerance when N or P was deficient. When N or P was severely growth‐limiting, salinity affected growth of some crops [broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. capitata), cabbage (B. oleracea var. botrytis)] less. Conversely, when salinity severely limited growth, nutritional responses of some crops decreased. Salinity did not aggravate N or P deficiency as judged by leaf N and leaf P contents. Effects of salinity and N or P deficiency on other mineral constituents were highly crop specific.

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Three experiments were conducted to determine the effect of increasing field pea level in high-concentrate finishing cattle diets on ADG, DMI, G:F, and carcass traits, and to estimate the NE of field pea. In Exp. 1, 118 yearling heifers (417.9 +/- 2.4 kg initial BW) were blocked by initial BW and assigned randomly to 1 of 4 treatments (0, 10, 20, or 30% dry-rolled field pea, DM basis; 4 pens/treatment). In Exp. 2, 143 beef steers (433 +/- 19 kg initial BW) were blocked by BW and assigned randomly to 1 of 4 treatments (0, 10, 20, or 30% dry-rolled field pea, DM basis; 6 pens/treatment). In Exp. 3, 80 beef steers (372.4 +/- 0.4 kg initial BW) were assigned randomly to 1 of 4 treatments (0, 18, 27, or 36% cracked field pea, DM basis; 4 pens/treatment). Field pea replaced a portion of the grain (dry-rolled and high moisture corn, dry-rolled corn, and barley and barley sprouts; Exp. 1, 2, and 3, respectively) and protein supplement. In Exp. 1, field pea inclusion decreased DMI linearly (P = 0.03), whereas ADG and G:F were not affected by treatment (P > or = 0.17); however, dietary NE(g) increased quadratically with increasing field pea level (P = 0.04). Fat thickness responded quadratically (P = 0.008) where heifers fed 20% field pea had greatest fat thickness and 30% field pea inclusion the least. Marbling tended (P < or = 0.09) to respond quadratically as field pea increased. No differences (P > or = 0.17) were observed for HCW, LM area, or KPH. In Exp. 2, DMI, ADG, G:F, dietary NE(g), HCW, marbling, LM area, 12th-rib fat, and USDA yield grade (YG) were unaffected by dietary field pea inclusion (P > or = 0.12). In Exp. 3, marbling score increased linearly (P = 0.05), fat thickness increased quadratically (P = 0.01), and YG tended to increase (P = 0.07) quadratically as field pea increased. Field pea inclusion did not affect (P > or = 0.38) DMI, ADG, G:F, dietary NE(g), HCW, or LM area. These results indicate that field pea can be included successfully into rations at levels up to 36% of DM without negatively affecting growth performance and most carcass characteristics of finishing beef cattle; however, effects on marbling score were variable. These data also indicate the energy content of field peas is similar to cereal grains, such as corn and barley, when included in high-concentrate finishing diets.

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