Role of effective micro-organisms (EM) technology in soil reclamation and crop production

Impact of Effective Micro-organisms (EM) technology on soil reclamation and crop production was undertaken during 2005-06 on an area of 0.4 hectare salt-affected soil on Jhang-Multan road near Shorkot City. The following soil and water treatments were tested in Completely Randomized Block Design: T1 - Irrigations with pure tubewell water (without EM treatment), T2 - Irrigations with EM treated Tubewell water, T3 - FYM @ 25 Tons per ha + irrigations with EM treated tubewell water, T4 - Gypsum @25 % of GR of soil + irrigations with EM treated tubewell water and T5 - Pressmud @10 Tons per ha + irrigations with EM treated tubewell water. Initial soil sampling was done to determine physical and chemical characteristics of the soil such as soil texture, pH, ECe and SAR. The soil had generally silty clay texture. Initial ECe and SAR of soil had a range of 12.0-15.5 (dS m-1) and 24.0-30.5 (mmol L-1)1/2 respectively at 0-30 cm soil depth which decrease d to 3.2-8.3 (dS m-1) and 10.3 - 21.2 (mmol L-1)1/2 at the end of the study. Even though at reduced rate, both salinity and sodicity had somewhat recessionary trend at the lower depths also. Maximum decrease in ECe at 0-30 cm soil was recorded where pressmud was applied with EM treated water. Minimum decrease in ECe to the tune of 33% was noted in case of irrigations with pure tubewell water i.e. without EM treatment. SAR decreased generally in all the treatments at the end of the study over initial values. SAR in 0-30 cm soil depth reduced in the order of T3 greater than T4 greater than T2 greater than T5 greater than T1. The quality of tubewell water used for irrigation was much favourable in lowering of soil ECe and SAR since it was quite fit for crop irrigation and did not had salinity/sodicity problem of its own. Initial infiltration rate of soil was 5 mm/hour and after four crop seasons it approached to 22 mm/hour in case of treatments receiving organic matter either i n the form of pressmud or farmyard manure. Gypsum also increased infiltration rate of the soil followed by water treated with EM material. So, infiltration rate of the soil displayed an average increment of 19 to 76 % over the control value with different soil and water amendments. Fodder and wheat crop yields were higher in case of pressmud + EM treated water followed by farmyard manure + EM treated water application. EM treated tubewell water gave higher fodder and wheat yields than pure tubewell water (without EM material) establishing effectiveness of EM material in enhancing the availability of plant nutrients or reducing the salinity/sodicity hazard in the soil or even both.