Document Type : Original Article
Author
Soil and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Fayoum University, 63514 Fayoum, Egypt
Abstract
A field experiment was conducted during agricultural growing season of 2005-2006 on three sites of newly reclaimed loamy sand soils irrigated with low qualities of irrigation waters derived fromBahr Wahbey water, Bats drainage water and blending water of Bats mixing station at Fanos Village, Tamia district, Fayoum Governorate. The experimental treatments were designed to study the negative effects of the used low water qualities on both the newly reclaimed soils and sugar beet characteristics as well as to clarify the optimized rate of the used farmyard manure (FYM) which was integrated with local gypsum as soil amendments to alleviate the hazardous effects of these irrigation water on soil properties and both sugar beet yield and its quality. The applied rates of the tested soil amendments were 0, 15, 30 and 45m3 FYM /fed and 0, 2, 4 and 6 ton gypsum/fed, and thoroughly mixed with the tested soil plots before planting sugar beet, which their root yields were harvested after 180 days from planting. Soil physical and chemical properties were determined for each of the studied treatments after sugar beet harvest, thereafter, root yield and its quality were also measured
The obtained results showed that the short-term use of the low water qualities for irrigating sugar beet plants left their negative footprints on the tested soil properties as well as root yield and its quality parameters under study, particularly in case of soil plots received Bats saline drainage water. However, the values of soil bulk density, hydraulic conductivity, available water were tended to decrease vs. an increase in each of soil pH, ECe and ESP, besides a noticeable reduction in the vegetative growth, root yield and its quality parameters of sugar beet, taking into consideration that the changes in the majority of these characteristics reached the level of significance. On the other hand, application of FYM and local gypsum as solely or together was associated with an ameliorated effect on each of the aforementioned characteristics concerned with either the experimental soil or sugar beet, with a significant positive effect being at the combined treatments.
That was true, since the treatments of (30 m3 FYM /fed + 4 ton gypsum /fed) and (45m3 FYM /fed + 6 ton gypsum /fed) gave the best improvement efficiencies on root yield of + 43.90 and + 44.60 % with site I; + 45.80 and + 46.50 with site II and + 21.10 and + 21.5 with site III over the control treatment, respectively, but the difference between these two treatments in the studied characteristics of both soil and plant didn’t reach the level of significance. Such ameliorated effects in soil properties were positively reflected on root yield and its quality of the grown sugar beet plants. Thus, it is noteworthy to mention that the treatment of (30 m3 FYM /fed + 4 ton gypsum/fed) is considered the best one from the economical point of view. So that, it could be recommended that organic manure integrated with gypsum should be applied to alleviate the hazardous effects of long-term use of low qualities of irrigation waters on soil properties and to achieve sustainable root yield of sugar beet.
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