Ameliorative Effect of Different Amendments on Nutrients Availability in Sodic Soils

A pot house experiment was conducted at the Net House, Regional Research Station, AAU, Anand during rabi season of 2018-19 on Wheat (GW-496) as a indicator crop. Total four amendments i.e. A0(control), A1(Gypsum @ 50% GR), A2(Vermi-compost @ 4.0 t ha-1) and A3 (sulphur @ 50 kg ha-1) and six soils type (S1 to S6) were selected under Factorial CRD. Pot study results indicated that the soil amendments significantly decreased the pH, EC and ESP of sodic soils. The order of decrease in pH of sodic soils from 8.75 to 7.89 by application of amendments remained as: vermin-compost > sulphur > gypsum. The EC of sodic soils significantly decreased due to application of vermin-compost and gypsum by 20.48% and 10.84%, respectively over control. The application of vermin-compost, gypsum and sulphur significantly lowered down Exchangeable Sodium Percentage (ESP) from 18.45 to 12.44, 13.00 and 13.57, respectively, and the effect of gypsum was found at par with sulphur in decreasing soil ESP. Application of vermin-compost (4.0 t ha-1) significantly influenced CEC (28.28 Cmol (P+) kg-1) over control (no amendment). Irrespective of amendments, soil S5 recorded the highest pH (8.39), EC (0.92 dSm-1), ESP (16.48) and the lowest was in soil S6 (pH 7.99, EC 0.64 dSm-1). The interaction of soil x amendment treatments showed significant effects on pH, EC and ESP of sodic soils. The application of amendments showed significant effect on available nutrients in soil after harvest of wheat and the highest OC (0.73%), available P2O5 (65.71 kg ha-1), available K2O (207.1 kg ha-1) content in soil was recorded when vermin-compost applied at 4.0 t ha-1 followed by sulphur at 50 kg ha-1 and gypsum at 50% GR but available S (16.33 mg kg-1) was recorded the highest due to sulphur application at 50 kg ha-1 followed by gypsum and vermi-compost.