Jyoti Prakash, Saba Hasan
Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University, Viraj Khand-5, Gomtinagar, Lucknow (U.P.)- 226010, India.

ABSTRACT

Uttar Pradesh (U.P.), a northern state of India has more than 1.2 million hectares of salt affected soil, most of which is alkali affected. Chemical amendments have been used through the world for almost 100 years to reclaim saline -sodic soil and sodic soils. A novel approach to the reclaimation of sodic soil is bioremediation. Bioremediation mainly works on the principle of enhanced CO ₂ partial pressure in the root zone because of root and microbial respiration,which increase the solubility of calcite, and improved soil physical properties due to root growth. Sodic soils can be successfully reclaimed and utilized through environmental conservation programmes such as afforestration. In the present investigation, experiments were conducted sodic lands in Lucknow region and it was observed that Acacia nilotica and Dalbergia sissoo raised on moderately sodic soils and they reclaimed the upper layer significantly. Soil organic C, exchangable Ca⁺⁺ and cation exchange capacity increased with the time corresponding to plant growth, whereas Ph, exchangeable Na+ percent and exchangeable Na ⁺ decreasd markedly. Although the plantation suffered from stressed growth and low productivity, Dalbergia sissoo reclaimed the soil more efficiently in comparision to Acacia nilotica. About 42% and 31% reduction in soil ESP was observed in 0-20 cm depth under Acacia nilotica and Dalbergia sissoo stands. At this level of partial reclamation, many other crops or trees can be raised to diversify the land use system for better stability as well as sustainability. Read more…