TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of Gypsum Particle Size on Reclaiming Saline-Sodic Soils in Egypt
AU - Abdel-Fattah, Mohamed K.
AU - Fouda, Sara
AU - Schmidhalter, Urs
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© , Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2015/5/15
Y1 - 2015/5/15
N2 - In Egypt, improving salt-affected soils is important for ensuring secure agricultural productivity. Gypsum is commonly used for the reclamation of saline-sodic and sodic soils. Soil column experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of gypsum, ground to varying degrees of fineness, on the reclamation of clayey saline-sodic soils. The soil used was obtained from Gelbana Village in the Sahl El-Tina Plain, Sinai Governorate, Egypt. Three different degrees of gypsum fineness (<0.5, 0.5–1, and 1.0–2.0 mm) were tested, and the following treatments were included: control (leaching with no gypsum addition), fine particles (<0.5 mm), medium particles (0.5–1.0 mm), and coarse particles (1.0–2.0 mm). The gypsum requirement (GR) to reduce the initial ESP from 29.8 to 10 percent was calculated for the 30-cm soil matrix. The application of gypsum and the subsequent leaching enhanced the reclamation and decreased the salinity as well as the sodicity. With greater fineness of the gypsum particles, a greater decrease in salinity as well as sodicity was obtained. This study suggests that, for greater reclamation efficiency, the gypsum used in the reclamation of saline-sodic soils should be of fine particle size.
AB - In Egypt, improving salt-affected soils is important for ensuring secure agricultural productivity. Gypsum is commonly used for the reclamation of saline-sodic and sodic soils. Soil column experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of gypsum, ground to varying degrees of fineness, on the reclamation of clayey saline-sodic soils. The soil used was obtained from Gelbana Village in the Sahl El-Tina Plain, Sinai Governorate, Egypt. Three different degrees of gypsum fineness (<0.5, 0.5–1, and 1.0–2.0 mm) were tested, and the following treatments were included: control (leaching with no gypsum addition), fine particles (<0.5 mm), medium particles (0.5–1.0 mm), and coarse particles (1.0–2.0 mm). The gypsum requirement (GR) to reduce the initial ESP from 29.8 to 10 percent was calculated for the 30-cm soil matrix. The application of gypsum and the subsequent leaching enhanced the reclamation and decreased the salinity as well as the sodicity. With greater fineness of the gypsum particles, a greater decrease in salinity as well as sodicity was obtained. This study suggests that, for greater reclamation efficiency, the gypsum used in the reclamation of saline-sodic soils should be of fine particle size.
KW - Egypt
KW - gypsum
KW - reclamation
KW - saline-sodic
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84929290373&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00103624.2015.1018528
DO - 10.1080/00103624.2015.1018528
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84929290373
SN - 0010-3624
VL - 46
SP - 1112
EP - 1122
JO - Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis
JF - Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis
IS - 9
ER -