TY - JOUR AU - Cucci, Giovanna AU - Lacolla, Giovanni PY - 2013/05/30 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Irrigation with saline-sodic water: effects on two clay soils JF - Italian Journal of Agronomy JA - Ital J Agronomy VL - 8 IS - 2 SE - Original Articles DO - 10.4081/ija.2013.e13 UR - https://www.agronomy.it/agro/article/view/ija.2013.e13 SP - e13 AB - The results of a 4-year experiment aimed at evaluating the effect of irrigation with saline-sodic water on the soil are reported. The research was carried out at the Campus of the Agricultural Faculty of Bari University (Italy) on 2 clay soils (Bologna – T<sub>1</sub> and Locorotondo – T<sub>2</sub>). The soils were cropped to borlotto bean (<em>Phaseolus vulgaris</em> L.), capsicum (<em>Capsicum annuum</em> L.), sunflower (<em>Helianthus annuus</em> L.), wheat (<em>Triticum durum</em> Desf) grown in succession; the crops were irrigated with 9 saline-sodic types of water and subjected to two different leaching fractions (10% and 20% of the watering volume). The 9 solutions were obtained dissolving in de-ionised water weighted amounts of sodium chloride (NaCl) and calcium chloride (CaCl<sub>2</sub>), deriving from the combination of 3 saline concentrations and 3 sodicity levels. The crops were irrigated whenever the water lost by evapotranspiration from the soil contained in the pots was equal to 30% of the soil maximum available water. The results showed that, though the soils were leached during the watering period, they showed a high salt accumulation. Consequently, the saturated soil extract electrical conductivity increased from initial values of 0.65 and 0.68 dS m<sup>-1</sup> to 11.24 and 13.61 dS m<sup>-1</sup> at the end of the experiment, for the soils T<sub>1</sub> and T<sub>2</sub>, respectively. The saline concentration increase in irrigation water caused in both soils a progressive increase in exchangeable sodium, and a decrease in exchangeable calcium and non-significant variations in exchangeable potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg). ER -