A comparative study was conducted to investigate the suitability of some soil conditioners applied at different rates on some chemical properities of three salt-affected soils namely, saline-non sodic (from the Agric. Experimental station of the (NRC) at Shalkan, qalubia Governorate, saline-sodic (from Sakha, Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate).
The soil conditioner used were Bitumen Emulsion (Bit I having 25% active mineral and Bit II having 50% active mineral), and polyacrylamide (PAM having low mol. wt 150, 000 – 200,000 and 16% active mineral and PAM II having high mol.-wt. 1,360,000 and 10% active material). The rate of application in weight of active material of the conditioner per 100 g of the dry soil were 0.25, 0.50a and 1.0 for Bitumen and 0.1 and 0.2 for polyacrylamide.
The results showed that values if soil pH, EC, soluble ions in the saturation paste extract, effective CEC, exchangeable Na and surface area of the soils decreased due to application of soil conditioners and the higher that rate of application was the lower the values obtained.
The studied conditioners were arranged according to their efficiency in the following decreased order PAM II > PAM > Bit II > Bit I. Results showed also that, gypsum requirements of the saline-sodic soil and the sodic soils decreased from 21 ton/fed. To 12 ton and from 35 ton/fed. to 20 ton/fed., respectively upon application of 0.20% Pam II.