Effect of different amendments on soil chemical characteristics, grain yield and elemental content of wheat plants grown on salt-affected soil irrigated with low quality water

A field trial experiment was carried out during the winter season of 2010/2011 to investigate the effect of different amendments i.e. gypsum, citric acid, farmyard manure, compost and the combination among them on heavy clay salt-affected soil irrigated with wastewater and also, their effects on wheat production. The experiment was conducted in north El-Hosinia plain, Sharkia Governorate that is irrigated with Bahr El-Baqar drain water. Obtained results showed that the chemical characteristics of the studied soil i.e. pH, ECe, soluble ions, SAR and ESP were improved by application of the amendments under irrigation with Bahr El-Baqar drain water. The better effect was shown by using 50%gypsum + 50%FYM. Regarding to DTPA-extractable heavy metals i.e. Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Ni and Cd in soil, the applied amendments increased the downward movement of heavy metals as indicated by increasing their concentrations with increasing soil depth which means reducing such heavy metals concentration in plant root zone. Gypsum amendment was superior in reducing the chemically available heavy metals in the studied soil.The grain yield, weight of 1000 grains and NPK concentration of wheat plants were significantly increased due to the application of these amendments compared to the control, especially for 50%gypsum  + 50%FYM treatment. In addition, heavy metals concentrations under investigation in root parts of wheat plants were higher than shoot parts. It is worthy to mention that the heavy metals concentrations in grains were the lowest ones and within the normal range except for Cu and Ni. Regarding to whole plant parts the heavy metals concentrations were reduced by application of gypsum to the used soil.