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Winter Crop Production in the Salt Affected Soils of Bangladesh

S. M. Rahman
Soil Science Division, Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture , P. O. Box 4, Mymensingh, Bangladesh..

M. F. Ahmed
Soil Science Division, Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture , P. O. Box 4, Mymensingh, Bangladesh..

M. I. Khalil
Soil Science Division, Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture ,P. O. Box 4, Mymensingh, Bangladesh.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Rice is grown extensively in the wet season (June-October) in the coastal saline soils of Bangladesh because of dilution of salinity with monsoon rains and removal of excess salts from the root zone. Although soil salinity is the most dominant factor limiting crop production during dry season (November-May), cultivation of winter crops like wheat, barley and pulses being more salt tolerant than rice can bring substantial change in the agricultural practice in the salt-affected soils towards increased cropping intensity of the country. Green house and field experiments with different crop cultivars indicated that both cereal and legume crops(wheat, barley, lentil and chickpea) can successfully be grown in the salt-affected soils with careful management practices. Wheat yield increased significantly with irrigation and fertilizers, whereas Rhizobium inoculated lentil yielded better without irrigation. N^15_isotope studies showed lower uptake of fertilizer N. N derived from fertilizer (Ndff) and N utilization by both wheat and lentil in the saline soils. The use of Rhizobium inoculum in lentil contributed significantly to the N fixation from the atmosphere which was about 75-90 per cent of the total nitrogen uptake. Efforts are underway to increase the agricultural use of the vast coastal saline land resources of the country using the research results and also the computerised agroecological database information for crop suitability assessment.

Keywords: Winter crop, Salt affected, Soil, Production

Location: BWDB experimental farm at Benerpota, Satkhira

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Risk Management in Agriculture

Commodity: Soil salinity

Objectives:

i) To screen genotypes of wheat, lentil, millet and barley for salt-tolerance under green house and field conditions.

ii) To evaluate the yield response relations, N utilization by wheat and lentil and biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) by lentil as influenced by irrigation and fertilizer application. Changes in soil properties were monitored under these experiments.

iii) To study the performance of rice and sesbania in the experimental layout of wheat and lentil.

Methodology:

Three crop species such as wheat, barley and lentil with three cultivars each were grown under green house conditions. Bulk soil samples collected from salt-affected and non-saline areas were mixed at different proportion to achieve different levels of salinity (0.63-6.0 dSm^-1). The crops were grown in PVC pots and harvested at maturity (98 days). The screening experiment was continued in the field at BWDB experimental farm at Benerpota, Satkhira. Four crop species such as wheat (5 cultivars), lentil (4 cultivars), millet (3 cultivars) and barley (3 cultivars) were included in the study. Experiments with wheat and lentil were carried out for consecutive three years at the BWDB experimental farm at Banerpota, Satkhira. The RCBD experiments included two irrigation and two fertilizer treatments arranged in 2 x 2 factorial combinations having four replications each. The irrigation treatments were: l₀-no irrigation and I₁-two irritations of 5 cm each applied once at 4 weeks and again at 8 weeks after planting. The fertilizer treatments were: F₀-no fertilizers and F₁-40 and 10 kg N ha^-1 for wheat and lentil, respectively applied as ammonium sulphate, and 35 kg P and 50 kg K ha^-1 from TSP and MP, respectively. In the no fertilizer plots of Wheat, only 10 kg N ha^-1 was applied to have a crop stand. Rhizobium inoculum was used in lentil seeds. Plot size was 5m x 5m out of which 1m x 1m was kept for applying N¹⁵ isotope. N¹⁵ istlope having 2.5 and 10 per cent aton excess, were used in the isotope sub-plots of wheat and lentil respectively. Transplanted rice (cv. Binashail) was sown during the kharif season for consecutive three years in the same layout of wheat and lentil under both rainfed (1₀) and irrigaed (I₁-3cm standing water) conditions. The fertilizer treatments were: F_o-only 10 kg N ha^-1, and F_l-40 kg N, 17.5 kg P and 16.5 kg K ha^-1 only. Grain and straw yield data were recorded at maturity. Sesbania bispinosa commonly known as 'dhaincha' was also grown in plots kept for use of a reference crop.

Source of Information: Proceedings of Inter-congress Conference of Commission IV "Improving soil Management for Intensive Cropping in the Tropics and Sub-tropics", pp-321-330, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Results of the screening experiment with several plant cultivars under pot culture and field conditions indicated that both legume and non-legume crops like lentil, chickpea, wheat and barley can successfully be grown in the salt-affected soils with careful management practices. Yield of wheat increased by irrigation and fetilizer but lentil tended to decrease with irrigation in the salt-affected soils. N¹⁵ isotope, Ndff and N utilization by both wheat and lentil were, in general, considerably lower. The use of Rhizobium inoculum contributed significantly to the fixation of. atmospheric nitrogen by lentil which ranged from 33.5 to 45.5 kg ha^-1 Nitrogen fixed from atmosphere constituted about 77-90 per cent of total nitrogen uptake by lentil. Rice yield increased significantly with the application of NPK fertilizers in the salt-affected soils. Comparison of soil analytical data showed no significant chage in soil properties due to irrigation and fertilizer applications. The cultivation of Sesbania showed decrease in pH and Ec value. But whether this decrease is due to cultivation of Sesbania or rainfall could not be ascrtained. Growing of winter crops in the salt-affected soils is really a difficult task. The surface soil up to 8-10 cm dries up quickly immediately after the harvest of transplanted rice and becomes too hard while the soil below this depth remain quite saturated. Land preparation for winter crops is very laborious, time consuming and expensive. Winter crop production in salt-affected soils is still possible with timely planting of salt-tolerant crop cultivars and appropriate soil management practices.

Knowledge Management: Journal