IMPACT OF IRRIGATION WATER SALINITY ON GROWTH, YIELD AND ELEMENTAL COMPOSITION OF BARLEY UNDER SOME SOIL AMENDMENTS APPLICATI‎ON IN A NEWLY RECLAIMED SOIL

A field experiment was conducted on a newly sandy loam soil at Dina Farm (Menofiya Governorate,  Egypt) to study the effect of different levels of saline irrigation water, i.e., 400, 1500, 3000 and 4500 mg/l in the presence of  combined rates of farmyard manure (FYM) and sulphur mixed with fertilizers (SMF) on growth parameters, yield, and elemental composition of barley plants   ( Hordeum vulgare ) .
                Results indicated that , barley growth parameters and its yield showed a gradually significant decreases with increasing the  salinity levels of irrigation water . Also,the NPK contents of barley straw and grains were decreased,while a pronounced increase was found for Na level .A parallel trend was noticed for micronutrients of  Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu concentrations and  uptake by barley straw and grains , also their values showed, in general, relatively decreases with the progressive levels of salts in irrigation water in treated and /or  untreated soils with the used amendments .
                The interaction effects between the used amendments (combined FYM and SMF) and salinity levels of irrigation water showed a markedly increases for N , P, K , Fe, Mn and Zn contents,while Na exhibited a slightly decrease .It seems that the previously increases are largely depend on the used rate of FYM  regardless the rates of SMF which appear their beneficial effects at rate of 0.5 ton /fed. supported by the highest rate of FYM (20 ton / fed.) specially under 3000 and 4500 mg /l salts in the irrigation waters.
                Generally, a similar trend was noticed for the nutrients uptake under consideration,as previously mentioned for their concentrations, parallel to the obtained trend of dry matter weights of both straw and grains yields . Moreover, applying the combined FYM and SMF led to decrease the hazardous effects of irrigation water salinity,consequently a favorable effect on enhanced the availability of macro and micronutrients for supporting growth and yield of barley plants grown on the studied newly sandy loam soils .