Fan Yang, Zhichun Wang, Wendong Zhu, Tibor Toth, Fenghua An,Dandan Zhao and Lu Zhang. 
2020. Long-term effects of combining gypsuming with brackish ice irrigation on soil 
desalinization and crop growth in abandoned saline-sodic land. 
Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science. 
https://doi.org/10.1080/03650340.2020.1820487


Salinity-sodicity may be reduced by freezing and melting (FM) brackish ice
irrigation combined with gypsum for the highly saline-sodic soils. A 5-year
field study was carried out in the Songnen Plain, northeast China, to
investigate the effects of FM brackish ice irrigation in combination with
phosphogypsum on soil salinity-sodicity. The treatments consisted of no
amendment, no irrigation (CK) and FM brackish ice irrigation using the
local brackish water (SW), and required phosphogypsum application to
fully reclaim the 0–10 cm, 0–20 cm, 0–30 cm and 0–40 cm soil layer,
combined with SW (10GR + SW, 20GR + SW, 30GR + SW and 40GR +
SW), respectively. The findings showed that five FM brackish ice irrigation
significantly decreased soil salinity–sodicity, and the lowest value of 
electrical conductivity (EC) (0.49 dS m−1) in the soil layer of 0–40 cm was
observed in 30GR + SW treatment. Maximum sunflower and tomato yields
(2670.28 kg ha−1 and 31,854.28 kg ha−1) were observed in the 30GR + SW
treatment. Results indicate that FM brackish ice irrigation in combination
with the phosphogypsum required for reclaiming 30 cm depth of soil is
a cost-effective scenario for the abandoned saline-sodic land.