Reclamation of high residual sodium carbonate water with commercial sulphuric acid for sustainable cropping and soil conservation

Abstract

A study was carried out in field experimental area of directorate of land reclamation Punjab, Lahore, to investigate the effect of experimentally quantified commercial sulphuric acid (76%) on residual sodium carbonate (RSC) of water, soil quality and crop yield. The findings were clear indications of effectiveness of acid injection approach to treat water. The sulphuric acid application reduced the RSC value of 6.1 to nil by making (T2) slight change in EC of water. This treated water not only improved the soil quality by decreasing its calcareousness from 20 to 17.2 making soil soft while the same increased to 23 in control (T1), where not acid amendment was done. Similarly, SAR of soil was also restricted from an increase by acid treated water rather than the control set of experiment. To make RSC nil, 5.19 liters of sulphuric acids were injected in water for 3 acre inch irrigation. An increase of 16.65% in grain yield of wheat crop was observed upon harvesting in T2, in comparison with control. Ascorbic acid and total phenolic contents (TPC) were also high in T2, followed by T3 and T1. All the changes in soil parameters and crop yield were found statistically significant.