Abstract: Soil salinity-sodicity is a major factor leading to tremendous yield losses in many arid and semi-arid regions around the world. It is well recognized that saline-sodic soil is the most difficult to ameliorate and utilize. Extreme physical properties of salinesodic soils, in most cases, result in soil conditions unsuitable for crop growth. Amelioration of salinesodic soils can be accomplished using various methods. The dynamics of water and salt movement have been well documented in literatures. However, changes of soil physical properties of saline-sodic soils afterameliorating for several years have rarely been evaluated. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of five years amelioration by growing rice in conjunction with different physical/chemical materials, including desulfurization gypsum (GR), sand soil (SS), organic matter (OM), and an amendment (TJ, developed by Da’an sodic land experiment station), on the Songnen Plain, Northeast China. The results showed that physical properties of salinesodic soil were significantly improved by the selected amelioration methods (P<0.05). Soil clay particles were reduced significantly, while sand particles were significantly increased. Additionally, soil bulk density was significantly reduced and water infiltration rate was significantly increased. TJ showed the best effects in improving soil physical properties, then followed by OM. Furthermore, SS showed the lowest amelioration effects on soil physical properties. These findings would provide basic data support to saline-sodic soil management.

Key words: nutrient absorption., cucumber, purified humic acid, growth, low nitrogen stress