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Published in Soil Sci Soc Am J 32:280-283 (1968)
© 1968 Soil Science Society of America
677 S. Segoe Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA
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Sand and Cotton Bur Mulches, Bermudagrass Sod, and Bare Soil Effects on: II. Salt Leaching1

M. D. Heilman, C. L. Wiegand and C. L. Gonzalez2

ABSTRACT

Four surface cover conditions—sand mulch, cotton bur mulch (Gossypium hirsutum), coastal bermudagrass sod (Cynodon dactylon L.), and bare fallow—were evaluated with and without gypsum for salinity reclamation under natural rainfall conditions in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. The electrical conductivity of saturated soil extracts (ECe) decreased in the surface 61 cm of all treatments. The sand mulch was the most effective; ECe decreased from 17.6 mmhos/cm initially to 2.8 mmhos/cm the first year of treatment. The ECe changed only from 22.1 mmhos/cm to 15.8 mmhos/cm in 3 years under bermudagrass sod. Salt accumulated below the 61-cm depth in the bermudagrass plots because of moisture extraction from the saline water table. No benefit was derived from the addition of gypsum. Following termination of the study, ECe remained unchanged after one cropping season of sorghum (Sorghum vulgare). Yields of both grain and forage were a function of reclamation wrought by the treatments. There was a net reduction of salt from the 0- to 213-cm profile for sand and bur treatments, whereas a net increase occurred for the bare fallow and bermudagrass treatments.

NOTES

1 Contribution from the Soil & Water Conservation Research Division, ARS, USDA, and the Texas Agr. Exp. Sta., Texas A&M Univ. Presented before Div. S-1 and S-6 of the Soil Science Society of America, at Stillwater, Okla., Aug. 25, 1966.

2 Research Soil Scientists and Agricultural Research Technician, respectively, USDA, Weslaco, Tex.

Received for publication March 27, 1967. Accepted for publication October 20, 1967.






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The SCI Journals Agronomy Journal Crop Science
Journal of Natural Resources
and Life Sciences Education		 Vadose Zone Journal
Journal of Plant Registrations Journal of
Environmental Quality		 The Plant Genome
Copyright © 1968 by the Soil Science Society of America.