Effect of soil conditioners on saline-alkali soil and growth of Kentucky bluegrass

Improvement of salinized soil is necessary for solving current environmental problems, reasonable selection of soil conditioners and improved methods areimportant for the development and utilization of saline-alkali land. We performed pot experiments using heavy saline-alkali soil of Lanzhou New Area. Kentucky bluegrass(Poa pratensis) was subjected to ten treatments consisting of film-bottomed tillage combined with different soil conditioners, film-bottomed tillage without soil conditioners, and the first soil conditioner but without film-bottomed tillage. We measured basic physiochemical properties of soil, including soil pH, before adding the soil conditioners. Total salt contentand growth index of Kentucky bluegrass after applying soil conditioners were measured in order to compare the effect of different soil conditioners, and choose the most effective soil conditioner and soil improvement method. The results revealed that after applying soil conditioners, the soil pH and total salt content were lower and the height, density, and coverage of Kentucky bluegrass were better than that in the treatment without soil conditioners. The most effective soil conditioner of all the selected conditioners was the first soil conditioner. After applying soil conditioners, the soil pH and total salt content were 7.37 and 0.28%, respectively, with a reduction of 1.09 and 0.32%. The height, density, and coverage of Kentucky bluegrass and Lawn chlorophyll content were 9.68 cm, 2.09 plant·cm-2, 99%, 3.13 mg·g-1. The first soil conditioner was more suitable than inorganic amendmen to rorganic fertilizer addition. Film-bottomed tillage was better than the no film-bottomed tillage treatment. The soil pH and total salt content, and the height anddensity of Kentucky bluegrass of film-bottomed tillage treatment were significantly different from that in the treatment with no film-bottomed tillage.