THE PROPERTIES OF SALT AFFECTED CLAY SOIL IN RELATION TO LEACHING TECHNIQUES

The object of this study is to determine the most effective leaching method for removing soluble salts from the suit affected soils by using saline water. Continuous and intermittent leaching processes were conducted on heavy clay soil selected from Tina plain, The leaching processes were extended for 21 months. The results revealed that the studied two methods are effective for salt removal, with superiority for the intermittent leaching. The later one is the optimum due to its improving the soil physical properties such as wet stable aggregate, pore size distribution and infiltration rate. It is also saved more than 30 % of the net applied water needed as compared to the continuous leaching method. There was high significant correlation between salt removal and leaching water of both methods, The values of R 2 were 0.9385 and 0.9075 for both continuous and intermittent leaching methods, respectively.