Potentiality Of Stressed Alfalfa Plants To Modify Soil Traits

Leguminous plants play a key role in the sustainability of agricultural systems. Nevertheless it is to somewhat scarce to find investigations about the interaction of such plants with the soil in which they grow under stress. A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the influence of graduated water regimes on the chemical features of different soil types varying in sand proportion before and after their cultivation with alfalfa Medicago sativa plants. The results indicated that soil cultivation with the studied plants whether water-satisfied or not generally increased the amount of soil ammonia nitrate peptide total soluble and total nitrogen. On contrary the amount of soil amino amide nitrite and protein nitrogen generally decreased after cultivation. Concerning soil ionic composition the post-planting values of soil sodium calcium magnesium and sodium potassium ratio were significantly lower than their pre-cultivation synonyms. Furthermore the percentages of decline caused by cultivating well-watered plants were higher than those caused by their moderately-droughted relatives which were in turn higher than those caused by severely-droughted ones. For soil chloride potassium sodium adsorption ratio and potassium adsorption ratio culturing water-unstressed plants reduced these ionic fractions while droughted plants markedly favored such values. As a general feature the maximum titers of all soil nitrogenous and ionic constituents were recorded for soil with the least sand proportion. The other chemical soil characteristics pH electric conductivity organic carbon organic matter calcium carbonate bicarbonates sulphates and total soluble salts were all fluctuated in a random fashion among the various soil types before and after planting water-stressed or control alfalfa plants. Thus the results obtained herein recommend alfalfa as a pioneer plant that can be introduced to infertile and or dry lands with a paramount efficacy to enhance soil chemical properties.