Evaluation of Long-Term Management-Induced Changes in Sodic Soils of Semiarid India.

Sodic soils of northwestern India (under common property rights) having three different types of management for 20 years (fencing, occasional cultivation, reclamation with gypsum) and an adjoining non-sodic soil, were compared for changes in selected soil physical and chemical properties. Fencing resulted in growth of perennial vegetation and the large biomass so produced led to self-reclamation of the surface horizon. All treatments resulted in considerable decrease in pH, EC, and ESP of the pedons. However, in the subsurface horizons pH and ESP remained in the sodic range even after 20 years of reclamation with gypsum or due to accumula tion of perennial vegetation biomass. In sodic soils under common property rights, where systematic reclamation with chemical amendments is not feasible, simple fencing or occasional cultivation on a long-term basis may slowly result in reclamation of such lands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]