EXTENUATING THE DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF SODIC WATER ON AGRONOMIC, IONIC, AND QUALITY ATTRIBUTES OF FODDERS

Brackish water used for irrigation in shortage of appropriate soil-water-crop practices often constitutes salinity in the soil profile. Canal irrigation water is scarce to aid agriculture; thus, a supplementary water supply requires accessibility from drainage water. In Pakistan, groundwater is brackish because of elevated levels of electrical conductivity (EC), residual sodium carbonates (RSC), and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR). But these waters can benefit well for irrigation during the primary phase of saline-sodic soil’s reclamation, if employing appropriate management practices, such as, chemical and organic amendments. A pot trial procedure ran under environmental conditions at the research area of the Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, to assess the effect of sodic water with various amendments on sorghum and berseem fodder crops. The pot experiment comprised seven treatments, including T1 = Control having canal water with SAR 0.1 and EC 0.2 dS m-1 ; T2 = Sodic water with SAR 15; T3 = Sodic water (SAR 15) + Gypsum; T4 = Sodic water (SAR 15) + H2SO4; T5 = Sodic water (SAR 15) + compost; T6 = Sodic water (SAR 15) + FYM; T7 = Sodic water (SAR 15) + poultry manure, with three replicates under complete randomized design (CRD) by sowing sorghum “JS-88” and berseem “Hisar Berseem 1” cultivars taken from the Fodder Research Institute (FRI), Sargodha. The agronomic and fodder quality attributes were maximum in T3 treatment in sorghum compared with other concentrations and berseem. In both crops, mineral nutrients were variable, and nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium were maximum in T5, compared with others.