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Combining Surface Mulches and Periodic Water Applications for Reclaiming Saline Soils¹

ABSTRACT

Water applied by periodic sprinkling of surface-mulched soil resulted in greater salt removal and higher leaching efficiency than did either flooding or periodic sprinkling of bare soil. Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) bur and chopped shrubbery mulches were about equally effective. Flooding and sprinkling bare soil decreased salt concentration in the surface 2 feet of the soil profile, but salt accumulated below a depth of 3 feet when compared with check soil that received only rainfall. Similarly, salts were removed from all depths to 5 feet where surface mulches were present. The salt leaching efficiency decreased from above 90% in the surface foot to approximately 33% in the fifth foot of surface-mulched soil. The higher leaching efficiency for mulched soil was attributed to the probably reduced evaporation under mulches that lessened upward movement of water.

¹ Contribution from the Soil and Water Conservation Research Division, ARS, USDA, in cooperation with the Texas Agr. Exp. Sta. Presented before Div. S-6, Soil Sci. Soc. Am., Denver, Colorado, Nov. 18–21, 1963.

² Research Soil Scientists, USDA, Weslaco, Texas.

Received for publication December 4, 1963. Accepted for publication January 30, 1964.