Effects of different leaching water sources and volume on soil salt and chemical properties in a soil mesocosm experiment

Abstract

The effects of leaching water sources (brackish ice, brackish water and well water) and volume (2000 and 4000 m3 ha−1) on the soil salt, pH, Na adsorption ratio (SAR) and exchangeable Na percentage (ESP) were investigated in a saline soil. Results show that application of brackish ice gave lower soil electrical conductivity of the saturation extract (ECe) in the 0–10, 10–30 and 30–50 cm soil layers than brackish water (p < 0.05), regardless of the irrigation volume. Compared to brackish water, application of brackish ice also gave a lower soil Na adsorption ratio (SAR) in the 0–10 and 10–30 cm soil layers when the irrigation volume was 2000 m3 ha−1 and in the 0–10, 10–30 and 30–50 cm soil layers when the irrigation volume was 4000 m3 ha−1. There were no differences in the soil ECe and SAR between application of brackish ice and well water in the 0–10, 10–30, 30–50 and 50–70 cm soil layers when the irrigation volume was 4000 m3 ha−1. Application of well water gave a higher soil pH at all soil depths than brackish water, regardless of the irrigation volume. Application of brackish ice gave a lower soil pH at all soil depths than well water when the irrigation volume was 2000 m3 ha−1. When the irrigation volume was 4000 m3 ha−1, there was no difference in the soil pH between application of brackish ice and well water in the 0–10, 10–30 and 30–50 cm soil layers. Application of brackish water and brackish ice gave higher soil exchangeable Na percentages (ESP) at all soil depths compared to well water, except for the 0–10 cm soil layer in brackish ice treatments. Application of brackish ice gave a lower soil ESP in the 0–10, 10–30 and 30–50 cm soil layers than brackish water, regardless of the irrigation volume. These results indicated that irrigation brackish ice produced better soil chemical properties (except in terms of soil pH) than brackish water and that application of well water and brackish ice seem to produce the same soil chemical properties (expect for soil ESP) in saline soil when the irrigation volume is 4000 m3 ha−1.