We assessed the improvement potential of pressmud – a sugar industry waste – on soil properties, physiological adaptation and yield-related traits in a rice–wheat rotation in sodicity-affected Ghaghar basin of Haryana, India. Large-scale (0.2–0.4 ha) participatory trials comprising two treatments, with (+PM) and without (–PM) pressmud, were conducted on 125 farmers' fields covering non-sodic (NS), slightly sodic (SS) and moderately sodic (MS) soils. Pressmud application (10 Mg ha⁻¹) led to appreciable reductions in soil pH (1.6–3.6%) and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP; 10.4–20.1%) with concomitant improvements in plant physiological and yield-related traits across different soil alkali classes, albeit to a greater extent in SS and MS soils than in NS soils. Compared to prevailing farmers' practices (–PM), transformative improvements in mean leaf relative water content (RWC) (4 and 7%), membrane injury (MII) (−12 and −14%), photosynthetic rate (Pn) (21 and 25%), stomatal conductance (gS) (26 and 21%), transpiration rate (E) (38 and 22%), proline (P) (−19 and −20%) and Na⁺/K⁺ accumulation in shoot (NaK_S) (−24 and −22%) and root (NaK_R) (−23 and −27%) were observed in both rice and wheat grown under PM ameliorated soils. On an average, rice and wheat yields were increased by 15.8 and 14.6% in SS and 18.9 and 16.7% in MS soils, respectively, with pressmud application. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed significant correlations among highly weighted variables including physiological and yield-related traits to influence the rice–wheat productivity with PM addition in SS and MS soils. Sustained use of this organic waste in agricultural lands seems to be an affordable solution for overcoming sodicity-induced land degradation, and achieving developmental goals of environmental and livelihood security.

中文翻译：

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Pressmud缓解了稻麦轮作中的土壤钠盐胁迫：对土壤特性，生理适应性和产量相关性状的影响

我们评估了印度哈里亚纳邦受加格哈盆地影响的稻麦轮作过程中，制糖业废料pressmud对土壤性质，生理适应性和与产量相关的性状的改良潜力。在125个农户田间进行了包括（+ PM）和不使用（–PM）压泥的两种处理的大规模（0.2–0.4公顷）参与试验，涵盖非苏打水（NS），微苏打水（SS）和中度培肥苏打（MS）土壤。施压泥（10 Mg ha ^-1）导致土壤pH值（1.6–3.6％）和可交换钠百分比（ESP; 10.4–20.1％）的显着降低，不同土壤碱类的植物生理和与产量相关的性状都有相应的改善，尽管SS的范围更大和MS土壤要比NS土壤好。与目前的农民做法相比，平均叶相对含水量（RWC）（4和7％），膜损伤（MII）（-12和-14％），光合速率（Pn）的转化性改善（21）和25％），气孔导度（gS）（26和21％），蒸腾速率（E）（38和22％），脯氨酸（P）（−19和−20％）和Na ⁺ / K ⁺在PM改良土壤下生长的水稻和小麦中均观察到芽（NaK_S）（−24和−22％）和根（NaK_R）（−23和−27％）的积累。施肥后，平均而言，SS水稻和小麦的单产分别增加了15.8％和14.6％，MS土壤分别增加了18.9％和16.7％。主成分分析（PCA）显示，在SS和MS土壤中，添加PM会影响水稻和小麦的生产力，其中包括生理和产量相关性状等高权重变量之间存在显着相关性。在农业用地中持续使用这种有机废物似乎是解决因土壤退化引起的土地退化，实现环境和生计安全发展目标的负担得起的解决方案。