The purpose of present study was to evaluate the use of filter cake and stillage as amendment for reclamation of a saline-sodic soil. The experiment was conducted in greenhouse during July - October, 1993, utilizing an eutrophic alluvial sandy loam soil of Irrigated Perimeter of São Gonçalo-PB and adopting a 2² x 2 factorial in a randomized block design with four replications. The treatments consisted of presence/absence or combination of gypsum and filter cake and leaching with rainwater or stillage. The required amounts of amendments (gypsum equivalent to 50% requirement and filter cake in proportion of 30 g kg-1) were incorporated in 6.1 dm³ soil which was subjected to daily leaching for 20 days. The soil solution volume, electrical conductivity, pH, concentration and quantity of sodium leached were observed as a function of time. Soil samples of 0-10 and 10-19 cm depths were analyzed for exchangeable sodium and potassium contents. The effects of treatments on growth of rice, cultivar EMPASC 101 were evaluated by percentage of germination, height of plants at fortnight intervals, number of tillers and dry matter of shoot produced after 60 days. The best results of reclamation as well as rice growth were obtained in gypsum + filter cake treatment whereas gypsum alone was found to be better than filter cake. Leaching with stillage showed better results in comparison to rain water in all treatments including control, indicating the possibility of reclamation of saline-sodic soils with stillage without incorporation of conventional amendments.
salinity; gypsum; exchangeable sodium; stillage