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The Interaction of Salinity and Planting Practice on the Germination of Irrigated Row Crops¹

ABSTRACT

The influence of bed shape, planting, and irrigation practice on the germination of row crops on a series of artificially salinized plots was determined at Riverside and Brawley, Calif. Three experiments were conducted, testing four bed types with a total of eight crops. The salinity status of the soil in the plow-layer prior to bedding-up may be used to predict the probable success of various planting practices. Flat-topped single row beds present the greatest salinity hazard since sufficient salt may accumulate around the seed during irrigation to prevent emergence even if the electrical conductivity of the saturation extract at the time of planting is only in the order of two or three millimhos. Sloping beds present the least salinity hazard because salt is effectively carried away from the seed row by the advancing wetting-front and accumulates in the top of the bed. Mulched beds and double-row flat beds (lettuce beds) are intermediate in salinity hazard in that initial salinities of about 10 millimhos may be tolerated if certain precautions are taken.

¹ Contribution from the Southwestern Irrigation Field Station, Brawley, Calif., and the U. S. Salinity Laboratory, S.W.C.R.B., A.R.S., U.S.D.A., Riverside, Calif., in cooperation with the 17 Western States and the Territory of Hawaii.

² Plant Physiologist, U. S. Salinity Laboratory, Chemist and Soil Scientist, Southwestern Irrigation Field Station, respectively. The authors are indebted to Dr. C. H. Wadleigh, Head, Section of Soil and Plant Relationships, for his assistance in analyzing the problem and planning these investigations.

Received for publication September 23, 1954.