Potassium and Brackish Water Irrigation Influence Electrical Conductivity, Potassium Dynamic, and Maize Yield in Coastal Saline Soil

Abstract

ABSTRACT Brackish water irrigation builds up salinity in the root zone of crops resulting in osmotic stress, nutritional imbalance, and specific ion effect. The development of agro-technology to ameliorate the adverse effects of salt stress has received considerable attention. In this pot culture experiment, we used two types of irrigation water (SW0- normal water, EC- 0.5 dS m−1 and SW1-brackish water, EC- 4 dS m−1), two sources of potassium (K) fertilizers (F1-KCl and F2-K2SO4) and three doses of K (K1–0, K2–30, K3–60 mg kg−1) to study the effect of brackish water irrigation and K on soil saturated paste electrical conductivity (ECe), K dynamic and maize biomass yield in saline soil. The ECe in SW1 was increased significantly (P < .001) by 182% over SW0 but decreased with K application. The SW1 treatment significantly increased the release of non-exch.K by 27% over SW0 at 21 DASE (the day after seedling emergence). The addition of K3 significantly increased the water-soluble K (ws.K), exchangeable K (exch.K) and non-exch.K by 54, 93, and 9%, respectively over K1. The SW1K3 treatment significantly reduced ECe and increased maize biomass yield (24%) over SW1K1. The outcome of the study suggested that SW1 with K3 supports maize production in saline soil during winter.