RECLAMATION OF SALINE CLAY SOIL WITH DIFFERENT LEACHING METHOD

The availability of water for land reclamation is limited due to water shortage crises in the world. An experiment of leaching of saline soil in micro-plots of size 3m x 4 m was carried out with different leaching methods in order to assess their leaching efficiency. Three leaching methods viz. continuous ponding, continuous ponding With 5 cm salt crust removal (scrapping) and continuous ponding with tillage were used. Equal depth of water (70cm) was applied to all the plots replicated three times for 30 days. Soil samples were taken regularly from all plots at soil depths of 0, 20, 30, 40, 60 and 80 cm for determining the change in EC of the soil. The experimental results revealed that continuous ponding with tillage was efficient method of leaching than other leaching methods used in this experiment. The continuous ponding with tillage method of leaching was efficient because small aggregates were formed and the salts held in small aggregates diffused faster due to shorter diffusion pathways.