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Water and Solute Movement under Conventional Corn in Central Spain. II. Salt Leaching

Centro de Ciencias Medioambientales, CSIC, Finca Experimental La Poveda, Ctra. de Campo Real km 0.300, 28500 Arganda del Rey, Madrid, Spain

M. C. Cartagena and A. Vallejo

Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Agrónomos, UPM, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040 Madrid, Spain

*Corresponding author.

ABSTRACT

Leaching of salts under field conditions may be addressed through a combination of the soil water balance and the drainage and concentration of salts in the soil profile. A field experiment was conducted in the 1991 growing season on a Typic Xerofluvent soil planted to corn (Zea mays L.) to assess the leaching pattern of Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, Cl⁺, SO^2–₄, CO₃H^–, and NO^–₃ under conventional cropping. River and well irrigation water were used with salinities of 680 and 1580 mg L^–1, respectively. Sampling of the soil water solution throughout the growing season was done for soil profile layers using a permanent ceramic-candle extraction system. Neutron probes and tensiometers allowed seasonal measurements of soil water content and water movement in the profile. Leaching of salts was calculated as the product of deep drainage amounts times the salt concentrations at the 1.4-m soil depth. Total salt drainage for river and well was 0.34 and 0.38 kg m^–2, respectively. Accumulation of salts to a depth of 1.4 m in the soil profile showed values of 0.02 and 0.21 kg m^–2 in plots irrigated with river and well water, respectively. Soil water balance and concentration of salts in the soil solution indicated discharge of salts to the groundwater table with conventional cropping practices. Groundwater pollution was addressed by matching irrigation to the evapotranspiration and by minimizing the concentration of salts in irrigation water.

Received for publication July 28, 1994.

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