INTRODUCTION:

Indian economy and future development are based upon agriculture. Agriculture is turn is development upon mother earth gift of nature which also sustains fauna, flora and course food. Vegetables are being considered as an asset providing a good source of income to the growers and they form a vital part of human diet. The population density in our country is increasing rapidly resulting in continuously increasing demand for root vegetables. Beet root is a biennial plant but usually it is cultivated as an annual for its root. It has large tap root, which forms the tuberous roots containing sucrose. Warner¹has also reported that sufficient supply of magnesium oxide to sugarbeet increased beet yield by 10 to 19% and sugar content from 0.5 to 1%.The root of beet contains 87.7% moisture, 1.7g protein, 0.1g fat, 0.8g minerals, 0.9g fiber, 8.8g carbohydrates etc. Singh and Anwar² enhancement in the cost of inputs the cultivation of traditional crops is becoming uneconomical with the use of RSC rich water. Hence, introduction of some new crops having sodicity tolerance and high benefits.

Cost ratio may attract the farmers to continue with point may attract farmers to continue with the point of view of profitable trends in comparison to traditional agricultural. For neutralizing the adverse effect of various ions in soil, a number of amendments such as gypsum have been suggested in the literature³. The main objectives of chemical amendments application are to be furnishing soluble Ca to replace adsorbed Na from soil colloidal complex. It is therefore, essential to list such under trail before recommended the same to the cultivars.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

A field experiment was laid out in micro plots consisting three levels of gypsum and three levels of RSC rich irrigation water at research plot of Chemistry Department, St. John’s College, Agra, to study the effect of gypsum and RSC water on various growth parameters, Chlorophyll and nutrients uptake in sugar beet. All twelve treatments were replicated thrice. The soil of field is mostly is alluvial in nature. The RSC rich water were prepared by dissolving the NaHCO3 and Na2CO3 salts in water. The sugar beet crops would be sown in the month of Oct (2008) in the plot at a distance of 20 X 20 cm using the pre plant irrigation with treatment water and 40 Kgha^-1. The N, P and K fertilizers were added @ 20, 40 and 50 kgha^-1through urea. The requisite amount of sodic water @ 5, 10, 15 meL^-1 were given the while gypsum @ 0, 5, 10 tha^-1 was incorporated into soil before sowing the main crop. The crop was harvested in the month of April 2009. The plant samples were mixed treatment wise, processed and analyzed for different constituents following the methods described by Richard. The plant samples were didested in diacid mixture and analyzed for N by Piper. P and S estimated by Vanadommlybdophosphoric yellow colour^4,5 N and K content in plants was determined using flame photometer.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

It is revealed from TABLE-1 that there was marked reduction in Chlorophyll (a and b) and total chlorophyll content with the increasing levels of sodic water. The lower concentration of sodic water and 10tha-1 gypsum showed appreciable impact in the rise of chlorophyll contents. It is obvious from the result that the higher concentration of RSC water depressed the uptake of N in plant. The magnitude of reduction was greater at R3 sodicity level in comparison of other levels⁶. The decrease in tissue content N perhaps due to reduced rate of urea mineralization in presence of excess amount of soluble carbonate and bicarbonate ions in the soil at higher RSC levels ⁷.

The specific effect of CO₃^2-and HCO₃^-seems to inhibit the metabolism process in plant and appear responsible reduction of crop growth, absorption of nutrients and the synthesis of protein and carbohydrates. Poonia and Bhumbla⁸observed an increase in N content while using gypsum levels.

Similarly P uptake in sugar beet was highly affected by soil pH. The sodic water irrigation enhanced the pH of the soil thereby it becomes less available in soil solution caused low absorption by the plants from soil⁹. The increasing levels of RSC in irrigation water increased the contents of Na⁺ and decreased those of N, P, K, Ca, and Mg in Palmorosa (Pal et al). Te effect of sodium to calcium activity ratio and RSC in irrigation water on physiochemical properties of haplites soil and found that increasing levels of sodium to calcium activity ratio from 7-10 and RSC from 0-10 meL^-1 in irrigation water decreased the EC, HC water holding capacity of anions decreased the pH and ESP of soil¹⁰.

It s revealed from the data presented in TABLE- 2 effect of RSC water indicate that gypsum application at the rate of 100% of the gypsum requirement of soil plus the quantity of gypsum required to neutralize RSC in excess of 4 meL^-1 decreased SAR values, and improved infiltration rate, crop emergence and wheat grain yield. The soil pH decreased by 0.3- 0.4 units. Once soil have been ameliorated by the treatment, further small application of gypsum are needed to decrease the RSC in irrigation water and avoid further soil deterioration¹¹. The increasing RSC in irrigation water significantly increased the pH, ECe and SAR of the soil and hence, considerably decreased the herb and oil yield of both the palmarosa and lemongrass.

Table-1: Effect of varying levels of sodic water (RSC) and gypsum on growth, plant height, number of leaves at different intervals and size of sugar beet (Beta Vulgaris).

S. No.	Treatment Combination	Plant height		Number of leaves		Size of sugar-beet		Weight of Fresh biomass at harvesting in leaves
S. No.	Treatment Combination	30 DAY	60 DAY	30 DAY	40 DAY	45 DAY	75 DAY	Fresh weight(gm)	Dry weight (gm)
1	GoRo	16.8	33.66	4.54	4.61	2.39	3.04	280	42
2	GoR1	20.3	41.4	4.23	4.30	4.37	4.71	310	55
3	GoR2	17.4	22.3	4.18	4.20	3.12	3.90	260	35
4	G1Ro	19.1	23.0	4.5	4.3	4.04	4.39	180	37
5	G1R1	21.4	31.0	7.0	7.5	3.17	4.06	350	60
6	G1R2	23.4	46.3	4.0	7.11	4.73	5.39	300	57
7	G2Ro	20.4	34.00	4.81	5.00	4.70	5.04	270	50
8	G2R1	18.1	31.2	4.90	5.02	4.72	5.4	230	38
9	G2R2	19.6	39.3	5.62	5.78	4.03	4.07	220	25
10	G3Ro	25.8	46.6	6.18	7.38	4.87	4.91	369	78
11	G3R1	18.4	39.3	4.37	4.75	4.70	5.05	180	30
12	G3R2	21.0	36.6	6.00	6.35	4.69	5.02	220	42

Table-2: Effect of different treatment on pH, EC and available N, P2O5, K2O, organic carbon and sulphur in soil after crops harvesting.

S. No.	Treatment combination	pH (1:2.5)	EC (1:2.5)	Organic Carbon (%)	Available P2O5 (Kgh^-1)	Available K2O (Kgh^-1)		Sulphur ppm		Available N (Kgh^-1)
1	GoRo	7.92	1.10	0.93	25.0	426		44		350.0
2	GoR1	7.99	1.40	0.57	20.0	420		25		250.90
3	GoR2	9.20	1.55	0.41	22.0	436.0		33.0		245.0
4	G1Ro	8.19	1.42	0.49	23.0	403		28.0		310.0
5	G1R1	8.25	1.20	0.40	17.50	471.0		30.0		315.0
6	G1R2	8.0	1.25	0.50	15.00	470.0		40.0		276.00
7	G2Ro	7.99	1.10	0.59	17.50	458.0		40		276.00
8	G2R1	8.08	1.47	0.42	15.0	4.39		35		250.0
9	G2R2	8.15	1.30	0.39	13.50	415.0		43		240.0
10	G3Ro	5.09	1.09	0.517	25.00	493		50.0		315.0
11	G3R1	0.15	1.18	0.48	10.00	347		46.0		288.50
12	G3R2	8.28	1.15	0.35	7.50	381	48.0		260.0

The lemongrass accumulates significantly greater amount of Na in shoot tissue as compared to palmarosa and it failed to survive at high RSC after 21 months of transplanting. The result suggested that palmarosa is more tolerant to irrigation water sodicity tha the lemongrass¹².The higher concentration of carbonate and bicarbonate water reduced K uptake by rice plant¹³. The higher application of gypsum with RSC water did not bring any appreciable change in enhancing the uptake of Fe but gypsum alone registered higher uptake of Fe. The EC of saturation extract increased slightly 5meL-1 and declined at 10 meL-1 RSC, perhaps it may be due to the precipitation of Ca+ Mg¹⁴. Gypsum and pyrite a source of sulphur application to the soil improved the soil physical condition. Higher doses of pyrites and gypsum produced the higher values of tiller, plant height and about length of plants¹⁵.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

Authors are thankful to Dr. Ashok Kumar, Head, Department of Chemistry, St. John’s College, Agra, for providing us the necessary facilities.

REFERANCES:

1. Warner W (1963) The problem of magnesium nutrition in sugarbeet Agro Chemica 8:5-16.

2. Singh, D.V.and Anwar, M. (1985) Indian Soc. Sci. 33: 362.

3. Chauhan, R.P.S. and Tripathi B.R. (1983) J. Indian Soc Sci 31: 587

4. Jackson, M.L. (1967) Soil Chemical Analysis prentice hall of India Ltd.. Delhi p-10

5. Palaskar, M.S; Babrekar P.G. and Ghosh A.B. (1981) A rapid analytical techniques to estimate sulphur. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci 29, 249

6. Chauhan R.P.S., Bhudayal and Chauhan CPS (1988) Indian J Agric Sci 58: 454

7. Larva, RD (1973) Geoderma 9: 15

8. Poonia S.R. and Bhumbla D.R. (1973) Plant soil 38:71

9. Lal, P., Mali G.C.and Singh K.S. (1978) Proc Int Symp Arid Zone Res Dec Jodhpur

10. Totawat K.L. and Singh L (1994) Effect of sodium to calcium activity and RSC I irrigation water on physico chemical properties of the haplustalfus and performance of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Ann. Arid Zone. 33 (1) :23- 27

11. Joshi D.C. and Dhir R.P (1994) Ameliorant and management of soil irrigated with sobic water in the arid region of India. Soil use and management 10(1), 30- 33.

12. Prasad A., Kumar D and Singh D.V. (2001) Div. of Soil Sci., Central Institute of medicinal and aromatic plants, Lucknow.

13. Chauhan R.P.S. (1987) Maharashtra Agric Univ 12: 274

14. Manchanda H.R., Sharma S.K. and Singh J.P. (1985) Effect of increasing levels of RSC in irrigation water on exchangeable Na% of a sandy loam soil and crop yield. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci. 33,336.

15. Kulkarni H., and Kardge B.A. (1991) Growth and mineral nutrition of moth been under saline condition Indian J. Pl. Physiol. 34(1): 14-24.

Received on 04.02.2010 Modified on 20.03.2010

Asian J. Research Chem. 3(3): July- Sept. 2010; Page 682-684

Effect of Different Levels of Chemical Ameliorant on Height, Number of Leaves, Size of Sugarbeet and Biomass in Sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris) under Sodic Water Stress Condition

INTRODUCTION: