Abstract
Brackish water can be made productive through the addition of various chemical and organic amendments. In this experiment we used three or~anic amendments to reduce the deleterious effect of brackish water (EC = 3.24 dS rn', SAR = 14.8 (mmol L'1)1! , RSC = 4.6 rnrnol, L,1! following a rice-wheat crop rotation on nonsaline-nonsodic, silt loam soil (EC = 3.1 dS m', SAR = 6.26 (mmol L' )1/2, pHs = 7.8). Four treatments, i.e. brackish water, brackish water + pressmud, brackish water + poultry manure and brackish water + FYM were arranged in randomized complete block design with three replications. The composite soil samples from 0-15, 15-30, 30-45, 45-60 and 60- 100 cm depths were collected first at the start of experiment then after the harvest of each crop. After first crop (rice 2003) the percent increase in ECe was 17 to 54 throughout the soil profile. Minimum increase in ECe was found when brackish water was used with pressmud. Treatments differed non-significantly to reduce the ill effect of brackish water in terms of SAR. Again pressmud remained most effective compared to others. After wheat harvest (2003 - 2004) ECe was increased to 5.6 dS rn' and SAR 15.50 (mmoleL'1)1!2 at 0-15cm depth. However when amendments were applied, the increase was within safe limit. The growth and yields of rice and wheat were significantly decreased with brackish water which was improved by the application of various organic amendments. All the three organic amendments were highly effective but poultry manure showed superiority over others in improving crop growth under brackish irrigation water. Key words: Brackish water, Amendments, Irrigation
