Reclaimation of Sodic Bore Well Water for Irrigation through Gypsum Treatment at Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute, Trichirapalli District, Tamil Nadu

It is necessary to ascertain the quality of irrigation water at Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute farm in order to monitor the possible effects of the sodic irrigation water on the soil. Irrigation with sodic water enhances soil sodicity built up in soils of experimental farm which leads to adverse effects on soil physical, chemical and biological properties, not fitted for farming. In areas where ground water is sodic and where good quality surface water supplies are either inadequate or not available at all and the farmers are left with no option but to use sodic ground water for irrigation purposes, which pose grave risks for soil health and environment. The quality of sodic water can be improved by treating with gypsum. Due to gypsum dissolution calcium and sulphate ions come in soluble form in irrigation water. Research conducted at Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute Trichy for reclamation of sodic bore well water revealed that the sodic bore water samples collected from bore well 1 (AMP shed) having initial Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC) of 8.0 meq /lit and bore well 6 (Boys hostel) having initial RSC of 6.2 meq /lit indicated the decrease in RSC upto - 0.6 meq / l and 1.2 meq / l respectively due to gypsum treatment with 0.1 per cent (12.50 tons/ha) and 0.35 per cent ( 43.75 tons /ha ) at the retention time of 1 hour to irrigate 1 ha paddy field throughout crop establishment stage. It was concluded that for lowest retention time higher doses of gypsum was required for sodic water reclamation. As we increased the retention time, the required gypsum quantity was also minimized as observed for bore well 1 (AMP shed 8 meq/l)) sodic water samples with gypsum dose of 0.15 per cent (18.75 tons /ha) with the retention time of 4 hours. These findings were very much helpful for the farmers of Manikandam block, Tiruchirappallii district having secondary sodicity built up in soils due to sodic water irrigation during summer.