Prospects and impact of cultivating salt tolerant varieties of cotton and wheat in coastal saline soils of Gujarat
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53550/Keywords:
Coastal salinity, Cotton, Saline soils, Salt tolerant varieties, WheatAbstract
Management of saline Vertisols has been serious concern for agriculture in Southern and Saurashtra regions of Gujarat, India. Cultivation of salt tolerant cotton and wheat varieties is ecologically and economically viable option to overcome the salinity stress. Efforts were made along with various NGO partners to study the prospects and impacts of salt tolerant cotton genotypes and wheat varieties in Southern, Central and Saurashtra regions of coastal Gujarat. It was observed that desi cotton was more suitable and profitable to farmers in rainfed saline conditions. Desi cotton accessions 'G. Cot. 23' gave cotton seed yield ranging from 1.6 to 1.9 t ha-1 under the average soil salinity of 7.6 dS m-1 where traditional varieties like Gheti and Dhummad gave seed cotton yield in the range of 1.3 to 1.4 t ha-1. In saline areas with soil EC ranging from 5.9 to 7.2 dS m-1, salt tolerant wheat varieties 'KRL 210' and 'KRL 19' yielded in the range of 3.60 to 3.95 t ha-1 where traditional variety yields less than 2.5 t ha-1.
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