G. Buttar - Department of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University, PAU, Ludhiana, India.
H. S. Thind - PAU Regional Station, Dabwali Road, Bathinda-۱۵۱۰۰۱, India.
K. S. Sekhon - PAU Regional Station, Dabwali Road, Bathinda-۱۵۱۰۰۱, India.
A. Kaur - PAU Regional Station, Dabwali Road, Bathinda-۱۵۱۰۰۱, India.
R. Gill - Department of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University, PAU, Ludhiana, India.
B. Sidhu - PAU Regional Station, Dabwali Road, Bathinda-۱۵۱۰۰۱, India.
M. S. Aujla - PAU Regional Station, Dabwali Road, Bathinda-۱۵۱۰۰۱, India.

A long-term field experiment was conducted for ۷ years to evaluate the effect of different amendments to mitigate the adverse effect of saline-sodic water in a calcareous soil under cotton-wheat cropping system. The pooled results over ۷ years revealed that the application of saline-sodic water decreased the mean cotton-seed yield by ۲۰.۷% as compared to good quality canal water. However, wheat-grain yield was not adversely affected by quality of irrigation water.  Among the different amendments, gypsum and farmyard manure were more effective in mitigating the adverse effect of saline-sodic irrigation water. Cotton-seed yield reduction was ۹.۸% with the addition of farmyard manure and remained only ۸.۸% with the addition of gypsum as compared to good quality water. However, when saline-sodic water was used alternately with good quality canal water, the recorded cotton-seed yield reduction was only ۶.۱%.  These results suggest that in calcareous soils, farmyard manure is useful in ameliorating long-term deleterious effects of saline sodic irrigation water and sustaining the productivity of cotton-wheat system.

Calcareous soil, Farmyard manure, Gypsum, Irrigation water, Semi-arid region, Zinc