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Journal article
Shallow drains and straw mulch alleviate multiple constraints to increase sunflower yield on a clay-textured saline soil I. Effects of decreased soil salinity, waterlogging and end-of-season drought
European journal of agronomy, Vol.162, 127416
2025
Appears in Open Access via Read & Publish Agreements
Abstract
A well-designed drainage system can alleviate soil salinity and waterlogging, leading to increased crop yield if the drainage does not cause a water shortage late in the growing season. We conducted three field experiments with sunflower across two dry seasons (Experiment I in 2019–20, and II and III in 2020–21) in a tropical landscape to examine the effectiveness of shallow drains and mulch in overcoming these constraints. In Experiment I, four surface drains of 0.1 or 0.2 m depth spaced 1.2 or 1.8 m apart were tested along with an undrained treatment. In Experiment II, the same four drainage treatments and an undrained treatment in the main plots were split into mulch (-M and +M) sub-plots. Experiment III had four main treatments, undrained, surface drains (SD; 0.1 m deep, 1.8 m apart), subsoil drains (SSD; 0.5 m deep, 4.5 m apart) and SSD+SD each split for mulch (-M and +M) sub-plots. At vegetative emergence and at the 8-leaf stage, all plots were inundated (3–5 cm depth; ECw: 1.5–2.5 dS m–1) for 24 h before opening the drains. Drainage treatments without mulch reduced SEW30 (waterlogging index, sum of excess water within 30 cm soil depth) and soil EC1:5 at 0–15 cm, while increasing sunflower yield by 15–100 % compared to the undrained no-mulch treatment. Relative to the undrained no-mulch treatment, drains with straw mulch conserved soil water, reduced EC1:5 at 0–15 cm and increased yield in Experiments II and III by 40–47 and 76–143 %, respectively. There were no yield differences among the combinations of shallow drains. Although combined drains (SSD+SD) added 25–30 % extra yield relative to surface drains, these have higher installation costs. Shallow surface drains at 1.2–1.8 m spacing coupled with mulch are effective options for smallholder farmers to reduce salinity, waterlogging and drought stresses, and increase yield on saline, clay soils.
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Details
- Title
- Shallow drains and straw mulch alleviate multiple constraints to increase sunflower yield on a clay-textured saline soil I. Effects of decreased soil salinity, waterlogging and end-of-season drought
- Authors/Creators
- Mohammad Nazrul Islam - Centre for Sustainable Farming Systems, Food Futures Institute, Murdoch University, WA 6150, AustraliaRichard W. Bell - Murdoch University, Centre for Sustainable Farming SystemsEdward G. Barrett-Lennard - Murdoch University, Centre for Sustainable Farming SystemsMohammad Maniruzzaman - Bangladesh Rice Research Institute
- Publication Details
- European journal of agronomy, Vol.162, 127416
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V
- Number of pages
- 12
- Grant note
- Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research: LWR/2014/073 John Allwright Fellowship
The authors are grateful to the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (Project LWR/2014/073) for funding this research work and awarding a John Allwright Fellowship to the senior author. The authors would like to acknowledge all the members of the Soil Science Division and Irrigation and Water Management Division, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute and Agro-technology Discipline, Khulna University, Bangladesh, for their kind support in the analysis of soil and plant samples. The authors would like to thank Asim Bala, who provided the land for conducting research works. The authors would also like to gratefully acknowledge Dr. Mohammed Mainuddin, Dr. Debjit Roy and Dr. Priya Lal Chandra Paul for their assistance in designing and installing drains.
- Identifiers
- 991005714568707891
- Copyright
- © 2024 The Author(s).
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Centre for Sustainable Farming Systems
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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- 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
- 3.45 Soil Science
- 3.45.397 Nitrogen Management
- Web Of Science research areas
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- Agricultural Sciences