Effects of Mine Water Irrigation on Soil Salinity and Winter Wheat Growth

HighlightsMine water irrigation can promote the plant height growth of winter wheat, but inhibit the growth of leaf area.High salinity mine water irrigation will inhibit the growth and development of winter wheat and reduce the yield.Mixed irrigation of mine water and clean water (the ratio is 1:1) is beneficial to the growth of winter wheat.Short-term mine water irrigation will not cause soil salinization.Abstract. There is a serious shortage of irrigation water in the overlapped areas of crop and mineral production in North China. The key to solve the problem is to utilize mine water safely and efficiently. The effects of mine water irrigation (MI), mixed mine water and clean water irrigation (MIMC), rotational mine water and clean water irrigation, irrigated with mine water first, then clean water (RIMC) and clean water irrigation (CK) on winter wheat growth and soil salinity were studied through two years of field trials (2012 to 2014). The results showed that different models of mine water irrigation had no difference in plant height, but had obvious inhibitory effect on leaf area of wheat. Compared with CK, MI increased plant height by 1.0% to 3.4%, and leaf area was 69.5% to 81.9% of that of CK. Compared with CK, the yield of MIMC was increased by 2.6% to 6.67%, and the yield of RIMC and MI was decreased by 3.4% to 21.1% and 10.4% to 11.2%, respectively. The MI with high salinity could inhibit the growth and development of winter wheat, and reduce the yield and quality, while the yield of MIMC was higher than that of CK, and could improve the quality of winter wheat. Long-term irrigation of using mine water with high salinity will increase the risk of soil salinization, but MIMC can improve soil fertility. Keywords: Growth, Irrigation, Mine water, Soil salinity, Winter wheat.