Effect of Applying Some Soil Amendments and Distance between Drains on Quality and Productivity of Soybean Grown under Saline Conditions

In summer seasons of 2015 and 2016, two field experiments were conducted at Gilbana village, east of Suez Canal, North Sinai Governorate, Egypt, to evaluate the effect of spacing between drains in open drain system and some soil amendments i.e, gypsum, compost and sulphur on some soil properties and soybean (Glycine max L. c.v Giza 35) quality and productivity under saline soil conditions.- Soil pH and soil EC slightly decreased due to the applied amendments and decreasing the space between drains from 15m to 10m.- Available macro and micronutrients under study increased due to the applied amendments under the different spaces between drains.- Proliene content significantly increased as affected by the space between drains in the following decreasing order: 15m > 12m > 10m while, addition of amendments significantly decreased proliene accumulation in the following sequence: gypsum > compost > sulphur.- Seed quality improved due to the applied amendments and decreasing the space between drains. The highest seed oil content and oil yield were obtained due to sulphur addition under 10m distance between drains while the highest protein content and protein yield were found owing to compost addition under 10m distance between drains.- Seed and pod yields as well as N, P, K, Fe, Mn and Zn uptake increased due to appling the amendments and decreasing the space between drains, however, the highest values for the seed and pod yields as well as the above-mentioned nutrients were achieved due to applying the compost and decreasing the distance between drains to 10m i.e. the treatment of compost + 10m distance between drains was superior to the other treatments. Thus, it can be recommended to plant soybean, Giza 35 under saline soil conditions after doing preliminary operations before planting and use of bio-inoculation for seeds and the use of some amendments especially compost with reducing distance between drains to 10m to counteract the salinity problem of soil. on one hand and to avoid overuse of  the chemical fertilizers to minimize the potential  environmental risks, which negatively affect human health on the other hand.