Effects of Gypsum on Five Tropical Grasses Grown in Normal and Extremely Sodic Soil

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Abstract
A replicated field study was conducted during 1979 and 1980 in the Karnal district of Haryana, India to investigate the effects of three rates of gypsum (0, 5.2 and 10.4 t ha−1) on the performance of five forage grass species (Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana), blue panic (Panicum antidotale), Panicum laevifolium, Karnal grass (Diplachne fusca) and coastal Bermuda (Cynodon dactylon)) on an extremely sodic soil. The soils used had a large exchangeable sodium concentration and pH in the top 15 cm (94% and 10.6, respectively). For comparison, the same grasses were also planted in a normal soil. The results showed that the relative tolerance of these species to increasing sodicity was in the order of Karnal grass > Rhodes grass > coastal Bermuda > blue panic ≥ Panicum laevifolium.