Synergistic effects of phosphogypsum and wheat varieties on saline-sodic soil properties and wheat productivity in Ethiopia.
Worku A, Beyene S, Kibret K
Soil Health
Heavily salted soils look and behave like concrete — water beads off, roots suffocate, and almost nothing grows — yet a single well-chosen soil amendment can flip them back to productive farmland within one growing season.
Some soils in Ethiopia have become so loaded with salt and sodium that crops barely grow on them. Researchers tried spreading a byproduct from fertilizer factories called phosphogypsum onto these soils, and it worked: the gypsum swapped out the harmful sodium, loosened the soil, and brought the pH down to a friendlier level. When they also planted a wheat type bred to handle salty conditions, yields more than tripled compared to untreated fields planted with ordinary wheat.
Key Findings
Applying phosphogypsum at 150–200% of the calculated gypsum requirement reduced soil pH from 8.16 to 7.91–7.93 and cut exchangeable sodium percentage from 34.3% down to 7.9–11.0%.
The combination of phosphogypsum at 200% gypsum requirement with salt-tolerant wheat variety ETBW-5879 increased grain yield by 107% over untreated plots of variety Gambo and by 224% over untreated Dande'a.
Even a lower phosphogypsum rate (100% gypsum requirement) paired with ETBW-5879 outperformed the highest phosphogypsum rate (200%) used with the non-tolerant variety Gambo by 6%, showing that variety choice matters as much as amendment rate.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Adding phosphogypsum (a calcium-rich soil amendment) to severely salt-damaged farmland in Ethiopia, combined with a salt-tolerant wheat variety, more than doubled grain yields compared to untreated plots. The optimal combination — phosphogypsum at 150% of the calculated gypsum requirement plus variety ETBW-5879 — also meaningfully reduced soil sodium levels and pH, making the soil healthier long-term.
Abstract Preview
Soil salinity and sodicity are major constraints, limiting nutrient availability, degrading agroecosystems, and threatening agricultural productivity. In Ethiopia, most irrigated lowland areas are ...
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