Bio-char amended subsurface drainage and bacterial communities in coastal saline soil
Abstract
A key strategy for managing, using, and developing such soils is paddy cultivation in saline soil, which can quickly reduce soil salinity. The sustainability of paddy cultivation is severely constrained by the high salinity of saline soil. A crucial step toward achieving high-yield, effective, and sustainable rice agriculture is the use of exogenic organic material to boost soil fertility in saline soil. In this work, a field experiment was performed to investigate the effects of applying various organic materials on soil desalination and fertility enhancement in salty paddy soil. The findings demonstrated that the addition of dairy manure, sludge vermicompost, and Vinegar Residue (VR) increased soil fertility, including soil organic carbon, Nitrogen (N), and Phosphorus (P), and promoted paddy growth in saline soil by lowering soil barrier factors like electrical conductivity and pH. Particularly, in DM, SV, and VR-treated soils with the greatest treatment rates, respectively, soil EC dropped by 29.0%, 32.9%, and 49.4% while paddy biomass grew by 27.7%, 63.7%, and 107.6% in comparison to the control. When applying carbon at the same rate, VR was more effective at lowering the EC and pH of the soil and raising the biomass of the paddy. In comparison to DM and SV, VR addition caused soil EC to drop on average by 20.7% and 19.1%, respectively, and increased paddy biomass by an average of 57.3% and 29.5%. Additionally, soil treated with VR had lower soil water-stable aggregates (WSA), SOC, N, and P levels than soil treated with DM and SV. Paddy biomass and soil barrier components had a very strong negative link, according to correlation and path analysis. However, EC in soil treated with DM and SV had an indirect negative impact on paddy biomass while EC in soil treated with VR had a direct negative impact. Additionally, compared to DM (0.21) and SV (0.89), the direct impact of soil pH to paddy biomass was larger with VR (1.49).