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Gypsum Amendment to Soil and Plants Affected by Sodic Alkaline Industrial Wastewater Irrigation in Urban Agriculture of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

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Abstract

Low-quality water such as sodic alkaline industrial wastewater is often used to irrigate crops of intensively managed urban gardening systems in the semi-arid tropics to help meet the fresh food demands of a rapidly increasing city population. An on-farm experiment was established to examine the effects of sodium (Na) and bicarbonate (HCO3−)-loaded industrial wastewater on soil and crops on the one hand, and to determine melioration effects on soil condition and plant development on the other hand. To ameliorate the sodified soil, fine-powdered gypsum (CaSO4) was applied as soil amendment onto the upper soil (0–20 cm) before sowing of crops. Depending on soil pH and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), which reflected the level of soil degradation (SDL), two different amounts of gypsum were applied: 6.8 t ha−1 in moderate and 10 t ha−1 in high SDL plots. Subsequently rainfed maize (Zea mays L.) and irrigated spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) under two irrigation water qualities (clean and wastewater) were cultivated. Chemical and physical soil parameters, as well as plant root density (RLD), crop yield and concentrations of major plant nutrients and Na were determined. The results showed that gypsum application reduced soil pH on average below 8 and reduced ESP below 18%. Furthermore, gypsum-treated soils showed a significant reduction of sodium absorption rate (SAR) from 14.0 to 7.9 and aggregate stability was increased from 44.2 to 51.2%. This in return diminished Na concentration in plant tissues up to 80% and significantly increased RLD of maize. Overall, calcium (Ca) addition through the gypsum amendment changed the soil cation balance by increasing the Ca:Mg ratio from 3.5 to 7.8, which likely influenced the complex interactions between competing cations at the exchange surfaces of the soil and cation uptake by plant roots.

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Acknowledgements

We thank our partners from the Institut de l’Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles (INERA), the Institut de Recherche en Sciences Appliquées et Technologies (IRSAT), the Bureau National des Sols (BUNASOL) and the Physical-Geographical Laboratory of Ruhr-Universität Bochum for the analysis performed and reliable cooperation.

Funding

This study was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) within the framework of the UrbanFoodPlus project (www.urbanfoodplus.org) as part of the GlobE initiative (BMBF, FKZ 031A242A and 031A242B).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Organic Plant Production and Agroecosystems Research in the Tropics and Subtropics (OPATS), Universität Kassel, Steinstrasse 19, 37213, Witzenhausen, Germany

    Juliane Dao, Kathrin Stenchly & Andreas Buerkert

  2. Institut de l’Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles (INERA), BP 8645, Ouagadougou, 04, Burkina Faso

    Désiré Jean-Pascal Lompo

  3. l’Institut des Sciences de l’Environnement et du Developement Rural (ISEDR), Université de Dédougou, Souri, Burkina Faso

    Désiré Jean-Pascal Lompo

  4. Department of Soil Science - Soil Ecology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstrasse 150, 44801, Bochum, Germany

    Volker Haering & Bernd Marschner

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  1. Juliane Dao
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Correspondence to Kathrin Stenchly.

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Dao, J., Lompo, D.JP., Stenchly, K. et al. Gypsum Amendment to Soil and Plants Affected by Sodic Alkaline Industrial Wastewater Irrigation in Urban Agriculture of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Water Air Soil Pollut 230, 282 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-019-4311-x

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