Effect of Amendments on Physicochemical and Biological Properties of Sodic Soil and Yield of Rice CO 52 (Oryza sativa L.) Grown in a Subtropical Region

Sodic soils are low in available nutrients, organic carbon, microbial population and enzyme activities. Amendments application not only used to improve soil physico-chemical properties and also increase soil organic carbon and biological activity of sodic soil. Field experiment was conducted in sodic soil using rice (CO 52) as a test crop with various amendments viz., gypsum+ green manure (G+GM), green leaf manure (GLM) and press mud (PM). The influence of amendments on reclamation as well as availability of plant nutrients and biological activity were studied. The microbial population viz., bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes and enzyme activity viz dehydrogenase, phosphatase and urease were increased on reclamation over control. Higher microbial population and greatest enzyme activities were observed in the gypsum+ green manure (G+GM) applied treatments followed by green leaf manure (GLM) and press mud (PM) applied plots. Sodic soil reclamation using various amendments resulted in enhanced crop yield, physicochemical and biological properties of soil.