Abstract
Certain minerals possess structures that convey properties which improve soil quality; however, their application in coastal saline areas has been poorly studied. In this study, we explored the effects of combining mineral amendments on the improvement of wheat yield and soil properties in a two-year field experiment in mildly saline coastal soil areas of the Yellow River Delta, China. Five mineral materials were combined into the following four treatments: zeolite + rock phosphate (ZP), zeolite + silica calcium soil conditioner (ZC), vermiculite + rock phosphate (VP), and vermiculite + medical stone (VS). For all treatments, combined mineral amendments increased wheat yield compared to the control, with similar increases in yield following treatment with VP (45.7%), ZP (43.5%), and ZC (43.6%), and a significantly smaller increase following VS treatment (26.3%). These increases in grain yield were attributed to larger dry matter accumulation and higher grain numbers per ha. Compared to the control, ZP and ZC application substantially reduced soluble magnesium (Mg) and sodium (Na) contents, electrical conductivity (EC), and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), and increased soil organic carbon (SOC) at a soil depth of 0–20 cm. VP application increased soil available phosphorus (P) by 34.7% and soluble potassium (K) by 69.3% at a soil depth of 0–20 cm. VS application slightly increased the SOC, total nitrogen (N), available P, and soluble K compared to the control. Overall, these results indicate that combining mineral amendments significantly increases wheat yield and improves soil properties in a saline area. Thus, we recommend the use of mineral amendments in saline coastal areas.
Highlights
The Yellow River Delta, the fastest growing river delta area, is a potential land resource in China, but food production in this area faces large challenges due to poor soil structure and salinity, which negatively impact soil quality, the absorption and transport of nutrient elements, and normal crop growth [1,2,3,4,5]
We evaluated the impact of combining amendments on soil pH, organic C, total N, available P, soluble ions (Ca2+, K+, Mg2+, and Na+ ), electrical conductivity (EC), and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR)
Our results showed that the application of a combination of mineral amendments significantly increased wheat yield by 27.4–45.8% and dry matter by 22.5–35.0%, which represents substantial gains compared to the results of Lu et al [29] and Eroglu et al [16]
Summary
The Yellow River Delta, the fastest growing river delta area, is a potential land resource in China, but food production in this area faces large challenges due to poor soil structure and salinity, which negatively impact soil quality, the absorption and transport of nutrient elements, and normal crop growth [1,2,3,4,5]. The application of amendments can improve soil properties and salt movement away from the plant root zone [7]. Traditional amendments such as gypsum [8], furfural residues [9], humic acid [7], and farmyard manure [10] improve soil physical and chemical properties, increasing crop growth in saline sodic soils [11]. Organic amendments can increase the flocculation of clay minerals and . Some mineral amendment materials have special properties to improve soil conditions [15,16]. Zeolite, which is a microporous hydrated aluminosilicate mineral [17], has high cation exchange capacity (CEC)
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