Effect of Soil Amendments and Foliar Application of Potassium Silicate on Wheat Plants Grown under Sodicity Conditions

Abstract

Nowadays, degraded soils reclamation e.g., sodic soils is the main target for Egypt Government to face the great gap between food production and consumption. The high exchangeable sodium on soil colloids is a plant stress factor due to its role in reducing soil aggregates. To face this challenges, two field experiments were carried out aiming at evaluating the impact of soil amendments as main plots i.e. sugar lime mud and agricultural gypsum, and foliar application of potassium silicate at different rates [0.0 (control), 750 and 1500 mg L-1K2SiO3] as sub-plots on wheat plants grown on soil having ESP value of 15.9%. Both soil amendments improved sodic soil properties, where the superior amendment was gypsum followed by sugar lime mud compared to untreated soil, and this improvement reflected on plant performance.   The rate of 1500 mg L-1 K2SiO3 possessed the best performance, while the rate of 750 mg L-1K2SiO3 came in the second-order and lately control treatment. Generally, the best performance of wheat plants grown under sodicity condition was realized when plants were treated with gypsum and potassium silicate at rate of 1500 mg L-1, while the lowest performance was recorded when plants were not treated (without soil and foliar applications). The studied materials enhanced the synthesis of chlorophyll in wheat plant tissues, and this may be the reason for increasing the ability to tolerate sodicity. Also, sugar lime mud has a great opportunity to be included in the fertilization programs for degraded soil especially from an economic point of view.