Role of natural vegetation in improving salt affected soil in northern Egypt

Abstract The effect of natural grasses namely Ghab ( Phragmites communis ) and Nisela ( Panicum repens ) compared to leaching and gypsum addition on reducing the salinity and alkalinity of heavy clay texture salt affected soil in northern Egypt was investigated for 2 years. In a field experiment 18 plots ( 6×7 m 2 each) were prepared for six treatments. Each treatment had three replicates. The treatments were ponding (8–10 cm water depth), gypsum (12 t per feddan, where one feddan =4200 m 2 ) and the last four treatments were cultivation of Ghab and Nisela with and without gypsum. Ghab and Nisela grasses reduced the salinity of the upper 50 cm soil layer more than leaching in both years. The reduction was more pronounced after the second year. The relative EC for the upper 50 cm after the first year compared to its initial value was in the range of 26.8–44.7% for ponding, 30.3–45.6% for gypsum, 23.6–42.2% for Ghab, 21.2–35.9% for Nisela, 20.9–40.1% for Ghab+gypsum and 19.7–32.5% for Nisela+gypsum. The reduction was even greater after the second year and reached to its maximum at Nisela+gypsum (5.5–5.9%). However, the reduction of the sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) took the same trend recorded with salinity but with less magnitude in both years. Therefore, Ghab and Nisela reduced both salinity and alkalinity of the upper surface layer more than leaching or gypsum and produced high fresh yield which could be utilized in livestock fodder during the reclamation of such unproductive soils.