Soil Salinity Reductions with Cultivation Practices and Products.

Significant periods of drought and limited rainfall have put greater demand on water conservation in the western US. Additional turf and soil concerns arise when poor water quality sources are used for irrigation. The limitations on water use and availability make it challenging to provide enough irrigation water for effective leaching. Therefore, a two-year research project was completed to determine if combining cultural practices (slice, core aerify, or control) with products (surfactants, gypsum-based, or high calcium) could reduce soil salinity with normal irrigation levels. Research was conducted at the Rawls GC and Meadowbrook GC in Lubbock, TX in 2015 and 2016. Visual turf quality, digital image analysis, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and water content were obtained for above ground measurements. Soil pH and EC were measured in a 1:2 (soil:water) ratio in June, August, and October each year. The injury from core aerification significantly reduced many of the above ground parameters compared to other cultivation treatments at Rawls GC that contained 4.5% more clay than Meadowbrook GC. However, Meadowbrook GC demonstrated significantly improved turf quality and NDVI with cultivation compared to non-cultivated treatments. Heavy rainfall events were the only effective leaching periods identified. Gypsum-based granular products significantly increased soil EC in August and October of both 2015 and 2016. In contrast, gypsum-based products significantly reduced soil pH in October 2016 following two years of application to the same area. No cultivation practice or product combination effectively reduced soil salinity with normal irrigation levels. This research demonstrates the effectiveness of natural rainfall as a leaching component, but also the speed at which salinity levels can increase under heavy irrigation reliability in semiarid to arid environments.