Enhancing the Growth and Quality of Alfalfa Fodder in Aridisols through Wise Utilization of Saline Water Irrigation, Adopting a Strategic Leaching Fraction Technique

An experiment was conducted to investigate the optimal use of high-salt water for alfalfa fodder growth and quality in Aridisol. The experiment included five treatments and was performed using a completely randomized design (CRD) as factorial design with three replications. We used a leaching fraction technique (LF), which is a mitigating technique (MT). The five treatments were T1 = MT1 as normal irrigation (control), T2 = MT2 as a leaching fraction (LF) of 15% with the same quality of water, T3 = MT3 as a LF of 30% with the same quality of water, T4 = MT4 as a LF of 15% with good-quality water (as percentage of total water), in the form of 2–3 irrigations every 3 months, and T5 = MT5 as a LF of 30% with good-quality water (as percentage of total water), in the form of 2–3 irrigations every 3 months. The duration of the experiment was three years and normal soil (non-saline, non-sodic) was used in the current study. Results showed that saline water irrigation negatively affected the growth traits, but the application of the LF technique with same-quality or good-quality water mitigated such negative effects. The fodder quality traits such as crude protein (CP), crude fiber (CF) and ashes were also affected in a negative way with the use of saline irrigation water. This negative impact was more intensified in the third year as the concentration of salts increased in saline water during the three years of the current investigation. A LF with canal water at 15 or 30% reduced the negative effects of salt stress and improved fodder biomass production and quality traits. For examples, using a LF with canal water at 30% increased the biomass production to 33.30 g and 15.87 g when plants were irrigated with W1 and W5, respectively. In addition, it improved quality traits such as crude protein content (5.54% and 3.73%) and crude fiber content (14.55% and 12.75%) when plants were irrigated with W1 and W5, respectively. It was concluded that the LF technique can be recommended for practice in the case of saline water irrigation for the optimized growth and quality of alfalfa fodder.