Effects of sodicity induced changes in soil physical properties on paddy root growth

Abstract

A study was conducted to investigate the influence of sodicity induced changes in soil physical properties on paddy root growth in the normal agriculture, semi-reclaimed and sodic soils. The root growth (length, length density, biomass and distribution pattern) were unfavourably affected by the soil physical properties (bulk density, soil aggregate stability, available water content, hydraulic conductivity and soil water retention potential) in the case of sodic soil. The microbial biomass carbon, bacterial, fungal population and dehydrogenase activity showed the lower values in the case of sodosol compared to the normal soil. These soil biological properties tend to sustain paddy root growth in normal and semi-reclaimed soils. Principal component analysis revealed that soil physical properties accounted for 98.2% of total variance in root growth. The study revealed that salt stress induces changes in soil physical properties limiting paddy root growth in the salt affected soils. It is important to reclaim sodosols to alleviate salt induced physical stress for optimum paddy root growth.