Response of Barley Grown on Different Soils to Soil Amendments. استجابة الشعیر النامی فی أراضی مختلفة لبعض محسنات التربة.

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the effect of compost, agricultural gypsum and sugar beet mud (By-product in a sugar beet manufacturing process) on barley plants (Hordeum vulgare L) grown in pots containing saline clay or nonsaline sandy soil. For this purpose, three different rates of compost, gypsum and sugar beet mud (0.5, 1 and 1.5%, equivalent to 2.5, 5 and 7.5 g pot-1, respectively) were applied to both soils in pots 500 g soil and moisted two weeks before sowing. The used experimental design was a completely randomized design with three replicates for each treatment. Growth parameters (i.e. shoot fresh and dry weights (g plant-1) and No. of plants pot-1) and also elements concentration (i.e. N, P, K, Na, Mg and Ca %) were evaluated. The findings indicated that the obtained values significantly increased with the increase of adding rate of all soil amendments under study, where the highest values were realized due to the addition rate of 1.5% followed by 1% and 0.5%, respectively for all growth parameters and elements concentrations, except K% which suffered from antagonism with calcium that is included in the composition of agricultural gypsum and sugar beet mud. Also, barley grown in the control treatment (without any soil addition) appeared extremely nutrient deficient. Soil applications of compost, gypsum and sugar beet mud positively influenced on barley plants grown on saline and sandy soils. Also, sugar beet mud is beneficial for barley plants grown on studied degraded soils due to its high contents from calcium and organic matter.