Combined effects of leaching fraction, salinity, and potassium content of waters on growth and water-use efficiency of wheat and barley

Abstract

Wheat and barley seedlings growing in pots in a greenhouse, with a non-saline sandy loam soil were irrigated, by saline waters, $1, $2, and $3, having EC i = 3, 9, and 15mScm -1, respectively. Each solution has three potassium concentrations, K~ = 6, K 2 = 11, and K 3 = 16meq L -l, and all incorporated N (90mgL -l) and micro-nutrients. Irrigation was provided to realize 0.2 and 0.5 leaching fractions (L).At maturity, dry matter of plant tops (Y), grain yield (G), and evapotranspiration (ET) of both crops responded significantly to the S, L, and K treatments. There were different interactions, however, between the crops indicating some effect of plant species. In both, a decrease in Y with increasing salinity was associated with a corresponding decrease in ET. In the most saline S 3 treatments, where the available water to plants was the lowest, an ample K supply produced substantial improvements in salinity tolerance of both crops. Under these conditions, changes in Y and ET were independent of each other. Increasing K supply, reduced the rate by which Y decreased with respect to S. Barley accumulated dry matter more efficiently (in terms of ET y -l , g per g) particularly under L = 0.2. This efficiency for both crops did not respond to the water salinity but rather to the potassium concentration of the waters.The whole experiment was also carried out under two levels of phosphorus application (35 and 70 mg P kg i soil). Neither growth nor water-use efficiency were significantly affected by the higher rate of phosphorus application.

The Impact of Seawater Salinity on Evapotranspiration and Plant Growth Under Different Meteorological Conditions

“…Treatment of less salinity gave the higher biomass production as compared to the high salinity. This finding was also reported by Heakal et al ( 1990), Greenway & Munns (1980) and Abdul et al (1988) when they found that dry matter yield of plant shoots decreased with increasing salinity of water. Koszanski and Karczmarczyk (1985) observed that diluted or undiluted seawater reduced plant height, grain and straw yield of barley and oats.…”

“…Reduced bioavailability of water and retarded plant growth under saline irrigation produced a poor evapotranspiration in the system. The depressing effects of salinity on plant growth have been reported by various researchers (Heakal et al, 1990;Abdul et al, 1988;Koszanski & Karczmarczyk, 1985). Saline soils inhibit plant growth through reduced water absorption, reduced metabolic activities due to salt toxicity and nutrient deficiency caused by ionic interferences (Yeo, 1983).…”

Growth, Yield and Grain Quality of Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) Genotypes as Influenced by Salinity of Irrigation Water in North Western Regions of India

“…of leaves with increase in salinity levels may be due to reduce opportunity for water absorption also termed as physiological drought. Several similar results of depressing effect of salinity on different plant growth parameters has also been reported by (Abdul et al, 1988;Heakal et al, 1990;Abu-Awwad et al, 2001;Hussein et al, 2010;Nadaf et al, 2010).…”

Salinity management for irrigation with saline-sodic wastewater under corn cultivation

“…Choudhary et al (2006) investigated effectiveness of cycling method in order to use sodic water for long term irrigating of sunflower in agriculture lands. For dealing with soil salinity and sodicity as consequences of irrigation with saline groundwater or drainage water some results have been published by Mostafazadeh-Fard et al (2009), Heidarpour et al (2009) and Heakal et al (1990 which all of them proved that with increasing leaching fractions, lower soil salinity and higher yield could be achieved. Recently researchers have shown that impact of applying some amendments in combination with leaching methods were reliable for reclamation of sodic soils .…”