Sustaining Grape Yield and Soil Health Under Saline–Sodic Irrigation Through Amendments and Canal Water Application

The present study was undertaken for six years to appraise the responses of four-year-old established grapevines (Vitis vinifera L., cv. Perlette) to saline&ndash:sodic groundwater irrigation in relation to different amendments in a field experiment on non-saline, non-sodic calcareous sandy loam soil under a semi-arid climate at the research farm of Punjab Agricultural University, Regional Research Station, Bathinda, Punjab, India. Different water quality treatments, viz., canal water or good-quality water (GQW), poor-quality saline&ndash:sodic groundwater (PQW), alternate irrigation of canal water and groundwater (GQW/PQW), PQW with 50% gypsum (CaSO4&middot:2H2O) requirement (PQW + GR50), PQW with 100% gypsum requirement (PQW + GR100), and PQW with sulphitation pressmud (by-product of sugar industry) @ 6.6 t ha&minus:1 on a dry weight basis (PQW + SPM), applied in furrows, were imposed in quadruplicate with a randomized block design. PQW with an electrical conductivity (EC) of 2.2&ndash:2.4 dS m&minus:1, residual sodium carbonate (RSC) content of 6.21&ndash:6.44 mmolc L&minus:1, and a sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) from 23.1 to 24.8 (mmolc L&minus:1)0.5 was used during the course of experimentation. The pooled mean 6-year data showcased that the treatments GQW/PQW, PQW + GR50, PQW + GR100, and PQW + SPM improved the berry yield by 28.3%, 11.3%, 21.2%, and 31.0%, respectively, when compared with PQW. Use of amendments, i.e., gypsum, sulphitation pressmud, and practice of GQW/PQW for irrigation in a cyclic mode, helped in reducing the pH, SAR, and bulk density (BD) of surface soil (0&ndash:15 cm) and enhancing the final infiltration rate (FIR) of soil and berry yield. A maximum water use efficiency (WUE) of 3.99 q ha&minus:1-cm was recorded in the GQW treatment, followed by 3.93, 3.72, and 3.68 q ha&minus:1-cm in the PQW + SPM, GQW/PQW, and PQW + GR100 treatments, respectively. Application of amendments alongside PQW evidenced a significant enhancement in total soluble solids (TSSs) and a decrease in the acidity of berries as compared to PQW. These results suggest that table grape yield (cv. Perlette) on calcareous sandy loam soil under saline&ndash:sodic groundwater irrigation can be sustained with the application of PQW + GR100, sulphitation pressmud, and GQW/PQW in already-established grapevines with minimal detrimental effects on soil health.