MONITORING OF SHALLOW GROUNDWATER SALINITY IN LIVESTOCK MANURE APPLICATIONS TO RECLAIMED TIDAL LAND

Reclaimed tidal lands have been developed to provide quality cropland in Korea, mainly for rice cultivation. However, due to rice overproduction, diverse developments of reclaimed land are required for economic and industrial utility. One of the recent plans for developing these areas is to establish a poplar forest in the reclaimed tidal land for green space creation. To establish such a forest, typical problems such as soil salinity, unfavourable soil chemical composition, and a high groundwater table with poor drainage must be addressed. To investigate the effectiveness of low concentration liquid manure (LCLM) application in desalinization, we monitored shallow groundwater salinity in a reclaimed tidal poplar forest including electrical conductivity (EC), pH, cations, anions, T-N and T-P. The EC, Na+ and K+ are of lowest average concentration in the LCLM plots, but highest in the control (undrained) plot during and after LCLM application. And those in the control (drained, undrained) plots showed greater salt leaching and accumulation than the LCLM plots. LCLM application plots had lower salinity than control plots, indicating that LCLM application may be an effective desalinization measure. However, because of the high groundwater levels in reclaimed land, applying LCLM may cause shallow or soil water quality problems. Copyright (c) 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.