Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 117/3, 1–11, Ljubljana 2021
doi:10.14720/aas.2021.117.3.1883 Original research article / izvirni znanstveni članek
Sustainable effective use of brackish and canal water for rice-wheat 
crop production and soil health
Khalil AHMED
 1, 2
, Amar Iqbal SAQIB
 1
, Ghulam QADIR
 1
, Muhammad Qaisar NAWAZ
 1
, 
Muhammad RIZW AN
 1
, Syed Saqlain HUSSAIN
 1
, Muhammad IRFAN
 1
, Muhammad 
Mohsin ALI
 3
Received September 20, 2020; accepted June 22, 2021.
Delo je prispelo 20. Septembra 2020, sprejeto 22. junija 2021
1 Soil Salinity Research Institute (SSRI), Pindi Bhattian, Pakistan
2 Corresponding author, e-mail: khalilahmeduaf@gmail.com
3 Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Islamabad
Sustainable effective use of brackish and canal water for rice-
wheat crop production and soil health
Abstract: A pot study was conducted to develop reason-
able irrigation scheduling methods for rice-wheat crop ro-
tation by conjunctive use of low-quality brackish water and 
good quality canal water. Treatments tested were; T
1
 (canal 
water), T
2
 (brackish water), T
3 
(brackish water for rice and ca-
nal water for wheat), T
4
 (last two irrigations to rice, and initial 
two irrigations to wheat with canal water), T
5
 (last two irriga-
tions to rice but two initial and one last irrigation to wheat 
with canal water). Results revealed that irrigation with canal 
water resulted in the maximum mean biomass and grain yield 
of rice and wheat crops followed by cyclic use of brackish and 
canal water. While continuous irrigation with brackish water 
resulted the lowest mean biomass and grain yield. The differ -
ent modes of irrigations also influenced chemical properties 
of soil, brackish water adversely affected the soil properties, 
and maximum pH of soil saturated paste (pH
s
), electrical 
conductivity of soil extract (EC
e
) and sodium adsorption 
ratio (SAR) were recorded where brackish water was used 
continuously. Therefore, it was concluded that when water is 
valuable and freshwater resources are limited, cyclic use of 
the canal and brackish water is also profitable with marginal 
effect on biomass and grain yield and proves least detrimental 
for soil health. 
Key words: canal water; brackish water; rice; wheat; soil 
health 
Trajnostna in učinkovita raba brakične in vodovodne vode za 
pridelavo riža in pšenice in ohranjanje zdravja tal
Izvleček: Izveden je bil lončni poskus za razvoj načrta 
smiselnega namakanja v kolobarju riža in pšenice s hkratno 
uporabo brakične vode slabe kakovosti in kakovostno vodo iz 
vodovoda. Obravnavanja so obsegala: T
1
 (voda iz vodovoda), 
T
2
 (brakična voda), T
3 
(brakična voda za riž in voda iz vodo-
voda za pšenico), T
4
 (dve zadnji namakanji riža in začetno 
namakanjem pšenice z vodo iz vodovoda), T
5
 (dve zadnji na-
makanji riža, dve začetni in zadnje namakanje pšenice z vodo 
iz vodovoda). Rezultati so pokazali, da je namakanje z vodo iz 
vodovoda dalo največjo poprečno biomaso in največji pride-
lek zrnja riža in enake rezultate pri pšenici pri izmenični rabi 
brakične in vodovodne vode. Stalno namakanje z brakično 
vodo je dalo najmanjšo poprečno biomaso in najmanjši pri-
delek zrnja. Različni načini namakanja so vplivali tudi na ke-
mijske lastnosti tal. Brakična voda je nanje vplivala negativno. 
Pri njeni stalni uporabi je bil zabeležen najvišji pH tal
 
(pH
s
), 
največja električna prevodnost izvlečka tal (EC
e
) in največja 
adsorpcija natrija (SAR). Na osnovi tega lahko zaključimo, da 
je tam, kjer so viri sladke vode omejeni, izmenična uporaba 
brakične in vodovodne vode donosna saj ima majhen učinek 
na biomaso in pridelek zrnja in se izkaže manj škodljiva za 
zdravje tal. 
Ključne besede: vodovodna voda; brakična voda; riž; 
pšenica; zdravje tal

Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 117/3 – 2021 2
K. AHMED et al.
1 INTRODUCTION
Due to Pakistan’s arid and semi-arid climate, the 
agriculture sector of the country is heavily dependent 
on irrigated farming. However, a considerable gap ex-
ists between increasing demand and water supply and 
farmers are forced to pump the groundwater, which is 
about 70-80 % brackish (Latif and Beg 2004). Drought 
prevailing conditions and decreased the surface water 
supply may intensify the practice of irrigation with 
brackish water that may results in problem of salinity in 
irrigated lands (Qadir et al., 2007). Hence, farmers’ poor 
knowledge to manage the brackish water for irrigation 
is one of the major reasons for the land deterioration. 
Soil sodicity is generally described as presence 
of relative amounts of sodium in the soil solution or 
on the cation exchange sites. Sodium adsorption ratio 
(SAR) represents the soluble Na
+
 concentration rela-
tive to the soluble divalent cation concentrations in the 
soil solution (Qadir et al., 2008). Soils with SAR more 
than13 are dispersive and suffer from serious physical 
problems e.g. permeability to water and air is restricted 
(Biswas et al., 2014). Further, water with high sodium 
content results in dispersion of clay particles and clog-
ging of soil pores (Levy et al., 2003); Na-saturation of 
clay complex (Minhas et al., 2019); impedes aeration 
and loss in soil permeability (Choudhary et al., 2011); 
thereby negatively impacting crop productivity through 
toxicity of Na
+
, nutritional imbalances and adverse os-
motic effect (Sharma et al., 2016; Murtaza et al., 2017).
Several researchers decided to designate the strat-
egies for optimal use of different quality waters to at-
tain secure and predictable yields on a long-term sus-
tainable basis. Nevertheless, safe and successful use 
of poor-quality water will require careful planning, 
stringent monitoring procedures, and efficient manage-
ment practices to avoid further land degradation (FAO, 
2011). Two different strategies can be employed to use 
the fresh water and poor-quality groundwater, i.e., I) a 
cyclic mode, in which subsurface poor-quality water 
and canal water are used separately, and II) a blending 
model, in which good and poor-quality water are used 
simultaneously (Qureshi et al., 2004). 
The cyclic mode involves brackish and good qual-
ity water in different crop rotations comprising salt-tol-
erant and salt-sensitive crops. In general, canal water or 
good quality water is used before planting and at early 
growth stages, while brackish water is used after seed-
ling establishment (Latteef, 2010). In Pakistan, the rice-
wheat cropping pattern covers 2.3 X 10
-6
 ha (Qureshi 
and Barrett-Lennard, 1998). Rice is relatively tolerant 
to sodicity, while wheat is tolerant to salinity (Qadir et 
al. 2001). It is a very well-established fact that germi-
nation and seedling stages are categorized as the most 
sensitive growth stages in most crops. Subsequently, ir-
rigation with good quality water has been advocated at 
early growth stages and then switching over to brackish 
water at later growth stages when the plant can tolerate 
high salt stress (Minhas and Gupta, 1993). Efforts have 
been made to counteract brackish water’s detrimental 
effects through blended and cyclic approaches (Rhoad-
es, 1998). Furthermore, conjunctive use of brackish wa-
ter with surface water can generate double agricultural 
revenues, and that profits may be more during drought 
periods (Bredehoeft and Young, 1983).
In a pot experiment, Gandahi et al. (2017) studied 
the response of different cotton varieties against con-
junctive use of non-saline and saline water. They con-
cluded that cotton genotypes performed better when 
six irrigations were provided with fresh water and six 
irrigations with salty water in a conjunctive manner. 
Similarly, in a field experiment, Chen et al. (2018) ob-
served that shoot dry mass and cotton yield decreased 
significantly when irrigated with brackish water than 
freshwater. They stated that an optimal mix of alter-
nating non-saline and saline water may be an effective 
strategy for cotton production and avoiding second-
ary salinization when using saline water. Minhas et al. 
(2007) evaluated the effect of fresh water and alkali wa-
ter on rice-wheat crop rotation. The yield of rice and 
wheat crops, was affected negatively when irrigated 
with alkali water; however, rice was more sensitive to 
alkali water irrigation. They concluded that cyclic use 
of alkali and good quality water could be a preferable 
irrigation mode to avoid the build up of salts in soils. 
In a field experiment, Murad et al. (2018) applied 
the fresh water and brackish water at different maize 
crop growth stages. They stated that freshwater applica-
tion yielded the highest grain and straw yield of maize. 
They concluded that freshwater irrigation at an early 
sensitive stage while conjunctive use of saline water 
with fresh water at later growth stages may minimize 
the yield losses. Therefore, the present research work 
was carried out to develop reasonable irrigation sched-
uling methods for rice-wheat crop rotation by conjunc-
tive use of the low-quality brackish water and limited 
freshwater resources.
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
A pot study was conducted in the wirehouse of 
Soil Salinity Research Institute Pindi Bhattian, Hafiz-
abad. A normal soil {pH
s 
= 7.98, EC
e 
= 2.22 (dS m
-1
), 

Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 117/3 – 2021 3
Sustainable effective use of brackish and canal water for rice-wheat crop production and soil health
SAR = 36.50 and texture = sandy clay loam} was filled in 
glazed pots at the rate of 16 kg/pot. Pots were arranged 
in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three 
replications to give a total of 15 pots.  During the ex-
periment, the average weather conditions were: 13.2 ± 
2.8 °C minimum temperature, 41.4 ± 3.8 °C maximum 
temperature, 35.6 ± 3.4 % minimum relative humid-
ity, 72.6 ± 4.6 % maximum relative humidity, maximum 
sunshine hours, 14 h and 8 min and minimum sunshine 
hours, 7 h and 36 min.
2.2 TREATMENTS DETAILS AND CROP ROTA-
TION
Treatments tested were comprised of T
1
 (canal wa-
ter), T
2
 (consistence use of brackish water), T
3 
(brackish 
water for rice and canal water for wheat, seasonal cyclic 
use), T
4
 (last two irrigations to rice, and initial two ir-
rigations to wheat with canal water, supplementation of 
canal water at sensitive stages), T
5
 (last two irrigations 
to rice but two initial and one last irrigation to wheat 
with canal water). Rice-wheat crop rotation was used 
for three years (2013 to 2016). Thirty days old seedlings 
of rice (‘Shaheen Basmati’) were transplanted in the 2
nd
 
week of July 2013, 2014, 2015 at the rate of three seed-
lings per pot. Fertilizers dose viz. 110-90-60 NPK kg 
ha
-1
 was used for rice crop. Half of the recommended 
nitrogen (urea) and full dose of P (single super phos-
phate) and K (sulphate of potash) were applied at trans-
planting while the remaining half dose of nitrogen was 
applied thirty days after transplanting. The pots were 
irrigated as per crop requirement and approximately 2 
liters pot
-1
 irrigation
-1
 were given, a total of 20 irriga-
tions were applied in each season for rice crop. All the 
plant protection and agronomical practices were car-
ried out uniformly. Rice crop was harvested in the 2
nd
 
week of November, and data about biomass and grain 
yield was documented. After the harvest of rice crop, in 
the same layout, fertilizers dose viz. 120-110-70 NPK 
kg ha
-1
 was applied. Half of the recommended nitrogen 
(urea) and full dose of P (single super phosphate) and 
K (sulphate of potash) were applied at sowing while 
the remaining half dose of nitrogen was applied thirty 
days after sowing. Ten seeds of wheat (‘Inqlab-91’) were 
sown in each pot in the 3
rd
 week of November 2013, 
2014 and 2015. Thirty days after the germination, plants 
were thinned, and three seedlings/pot were maintained. 
The pots were irrigated as per crop requirement and ap-
proximately 2 liters pot
-1
 irrigation
-1
 were given, a total 
of 6 irrigations were applied in each season for wheat 
crop. The crop was raised to maturity and harvested in 
the 2
nd
 week of April, and data about biomass and grain 
yield were recorded. 
2.3 SOIL AND W ATER ANALYSIS
Before the start of study and after the harvest of 3
rd
 
wheat crop soil samples were air dried, passed through 
2 mm sieve and analyzed for pH
s
, EC
e
 and SAR (U.S. 
Salinity Laboratory Staff, 1954). Soil pH of the saturated 
paste was measured by using pH meter (Microcomput-
er pH-vision cole parmer model 05669-20). Electrical 
conductivity of the irrigation water and soil saturated 
paste extract was measured with the help of conduc-
tivity meter (WTW conduktometer LF 191). The Na
+
 
contents were determined by flame photometer (digi-
flame code DV 710) while Ca
2+
 and Mg
2+
 were deter-
mined titrimetrically. Sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) 
was calculated as follows where ionic concentration of 
the saturation extracts is given in mmol
e
 l
-1
. SAR = Na
+
 
/ [(Ca
2+
+ Mg
2+
)/2]
1/2
. Soil texture was determined by hy-
drometer method (Bedaiwy, 2012). Carbonate contents 
(CO
3
2-
 and HCO
3
-
) was determined via titration with 
standard H
2
SO
4
. Residual sodium carbonate (RSC) was 
calculated by (Eaton, 1950) as follows: 
RSC = (CO
3
2-
 and HCO
3
-
) - [( Ca
2+ 
+ Mg
2+
)
2.4 STATISTICAL ANALYSES
The collected crop data were subjected to analy-
sis of variance. The treatment means comparison was 
made using the Least Significant Difference Test at 5 % 
probability level (Steel et al., 1997) using STATISTIX 
8.1 package software. 
Parameters Units Brackish water Canal water
Electrical conductivity of irrigation water (EC
iw
 ) (dS m
-1
) 3.29 0.32
Sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) (mmol
e
 l
-1
)
1/2
25.52 0.53
Residual sodium carbonate (RSC)  (me l
-1
) 2.54 Nil
Table 1: Analysis of irrigation waters used in study

Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 117/3 – 2021 4
K. AHMED et al.
3 RESULTS
3.1 RICE CROP
Data in Table 2 showed that different irrigation 
modes had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on rice bio-
mass yield. Irrigation with canal water produced the 
maximum biomass yield during all three seasons, while 
continuous irrigation with brackish water negatively 
affected rice crop biomass yield. Based on the mean 
value of three seasons, irrigation with canal water (T
1
) 
produced the maximum biomass yield of 254.53 g/pot 
followed by (T
3
) (214.54 g/pot), where canal water and 
brackish water was used in a cyclic mode. Whereas 
continuous irrigation with brackish water produced 
the minimum biomass yield of 180.63 g/pot. A similar 
trend was also observed in the case of grain yield, based 
on average data of three seasons, maximum grain yield 
(55.40 g/pot) was documented where canal water was 
used for irrigation followed by cyclic mode of irriga-
tion (brackish water for rice and canal water for wheat) 
which yielded the grain yield of 42.81 g/pot (Table 3). 
However, it was statistically (p < 0.05) similar to all the 
other treatments. Continuous irrigation with brackish 
water negatively impacted grain yield, and the lowest 
mean grain yield (36.64 g/pot) was divulged with this 
mode of irrigation. 
3.2 WHEAT CROP
Growth characteristics like biomass and grain yield 
of the wheat crop were also significantly influenced by 
different irrigation modes. Data presented in Table 4 
showed that the highest mean value for biomass yield 
(84.35 g/pot) was documented in T
1
 (canal water irri-
gation) followed by T
3 
with biomass yield of (78.55 g/
pot), and both the treatments were significant (p < 0.05) 
from each other. On average, the minimum biomass 
yield of 69.02 g/pot was recorded in T
2
, indicating that 
continuous irrigation with brackish water significantly 
reduced the biomass yield. Grain yield also responded 
significantly to different treatments of irrigation dur-
ing all three seasons. Data in Table 5 illustrated that the 
maximum grain yield (35.92 g/pot) was observed with 
canal irrigation followed by cyclic mode of irrigation 
(32.09 g/pot). On the other hand, the lowest grain yield 
(27.25) was observed in T
2
, a treatment where brackish 
irrigation water was used continuously to irrigate the 
pots.
3.3 SOIL PROPERTIES
Chemical properties of surface soil were also in-
fluenced by the different modes of irrigations and pH
s
, 
EC
e
 and SAR gradually increased during the three years 
of experimentation. Soil pH
s
 steadily increased by con-
tinuous irrigation with brackish water as compared to 
other modes of irrigation. At the end of the study maxi-
mum increase of 11.52 % over its initial value in soil, 
pH
s
 was recorded with brackish water irrigation (Table 
6). On the contrary, a minimum increase in soil pH
s
 
(1.12 %) was recorded in canal water irrigation, while 
in the cyclic mode of irrigation, this increase was (4.38 
%) over its initial value. A similar tendency was ob-
served in soil EC
e
; different modes of irrigation resulted 
in the buildup of salts in the soil; however, accumula-
tion of salts was more with brackish water. At the end 
of the study, a maximum increase in EC
e
 (234.23 %) was 
observed in T
2
 (brackish water), whereas, minimum in-
crease (5.85 %) was observed in T
1
 (canal water) (Table 
7). Soil sodicity was also increased remarkably by vari-
ous modes of irrigation. Maximum sodicity was devel-
oped where brackish water was used continuously for 
three years, and an increase of 648.90 % in SAR over its 
Treatments 1
st
 crop 2
nd
 crop 3
rd
 crop Mean
T
1
 Canal water 256.98 A 263.38 A 243.22 A 254.53 A
T
2
 Consistence use of brackish water 236.14 B 164.80 A 140.96 D 180.63 C
T
3
 Brackish water for rice and canal water for wheat seasonal  
cyclic use
234.88 B 216.55 B 192.20 B 214.54 B
T
4 
Last two irrigations to rice and initial two irrigations to  
wheat with canal water (supplementation of canal water at 
 sensitive stages)
240.13 B 190.11 C 162.78 C 197.67 BC
T
5
 Last two irrigations to rice but two initial and one last  
irrigation to wheat with canal water
237.86 B 194.36 170.28 C 200.83 BC
Table 2: Effect of conjunctive use of brackish and canal water on rice biomass yield (g/pot)
Different letters in the same column indicate significant differences by LSD at p ≤ 0.05

Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 117/3 – 2021 5
Sustainable effective use of brackish and canal water for rice-wheat crop production and soil health
initial value was observed (Table 8). In contrast, a mini-
mum increase (27.39 %) in SAR over its initial value 
was recorded, canal water was used for irrigation. 
4 DISCUSSION
Due to Pakistan’s arid to semi-arid climate, about 
70-75 % of the country’s tube wells withdraw the brack-
ish groundwater (Ghafoor et al., 1991). Furthermore, 
many areas of the country with freshwater resources 
are endangered with contamination due to this exces-
sive withdrawal of brackish groundwater. Under most 
situations, subsurface brackish water and canal water 
can be applied in different modes of irrigations (cyclic, 
blending) to meet the crop water demands. Allocation 
of these two different quality waters can be done de-
pending upon season, type of crop, and crop growth 
stage so that salt stress is minimized. For this purpose, 
we designed an irrigation schedule for rice wheat-crop 
rotation, where both waters were used in seasonal cy-
clic mode, and canal (non-saline) water was used at the 
salt-sensitive stage of crop growth, switching over to 
brackish water at the tolerant stage. Results of the study 
showed that pH
s
, EC
e,
 and SAR of soil increased gradu-
ally during three years; however, the rate of increase 
was more where brackish water alone with {EC
iw
 = 3.29 
(dS m
-1
), SAR = 25.52, and RSC = 2.54 (me l
-1
)} was used 
continuously for three years. This high pH
s
, EC
e,
 and 
SAR due to brackish water may be explained that salt 
solution concentrated when water loss through evapo-
transpiration and induces the salinity/sodicity (Minhas 
et al., 2007). Different researchers reported similar find-
ings that irrigation with brackish water resulted the re-
sidual in salinity and sodicity build up in soils (Avais 
et al., 2018; Zaka et al., 2018; Qadir et al., 2019). Con-
tinuous irrigation with brackish water having SAR 10.4 
(mmol l
−1
)
1/2
 may reduced rice and wheat productivity 
by 16 and 14 %, respectively and resulted in buildup of 
exchangeable sodium (Sheoran et al., 2021). Similarly 
in a pot study, Hussain et al. (2016) reported that saline 
irrigation (5.7 dS m
-1
) impaired growth of wheat plants 
and adversely affected the grain and dry matter yield. 
Therefore, it emerges that high water demanding rota-
tions like rice-wheat are even more prone to sodicity 
problem when irrigated with sodic waters (Minhas et 
Treatments 1
st
 crop 2
nd
 crop 3
rd
 crop Mean
T
1
 Canal water 55.23 A 57.48 A 53.50 A 55.40 A
T
2
 Consistence use of brackish water 48.13 B 32.18 D 29.62 D 36.64 B
T
3
 Brackish water for rice and canal water for wheat seasonal 
cyclic use
46.64 B 41.91 B 39.88 B 42.81 B
T
4 
Last two irrigations to rice and initial two irrigations to  
wheat with canal water (supplementation of canal water at  
sensitive stages)
47.89 B 36.04 C 33.41 C 39.11 B
T
5
 Last two irrigations to rice but two initial and one last  
irrigation to wheat with canal water
50.09 B 36.76 C 32.98 C 39.94 B
Table 3: Effect of conjunctive use of brackish and canal water on rice grain yield (g/pot)
Different letters in the same column indicate significant differences by LSD at p ≤ 0.05
Treatments 1
st
 crop 2
nd
 crop 3
rd
 crop Mean
T
1
 Canal water 90.31 A 78.40 A 84.36 A 84.35 A
T
2
 Consistence use of brackish water 73.22 C 67.92 D 65.94 D 69.02 D
T
3
 Brackish water for rice and canal water for wheat seasonal  
cyclic use
84.86 AB 74.18 B 76.62 B 78.55 B
T
4 
Last two irrigations to rice and initial two irrigations to  
wheat with canal water (supplementation of canal water at  
sensitive stages)
80.17 BC 71.41 C 72.78 C 74.78 C
T
5
 Last two irrigations to rice but two initial and one last  
irrigation to wheat with canal water
81.60 AB 71.98 BC 73.24 C 75.60 BC
Table 4: Effect of conjunctive use of brackish and canal water on wheat biomass yield (g/pot)
Different letters in the same column indicate significant differences by LSD at p ≤ 0.05

Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 117/3 – 2021 6
K. AHMED et al.
al., 2019). This development of sodicity and salinity was 
also correlated to proportions of brackish water used 
in different irrigation modes. At the end of the study, 
EC
e
 value was 4.17, where brackish and canal waters 
were used in cyclic mode (T
3
) while a little variation 
was observed between T
4
 (6.08) and T
5
 (5.98) where 
canal water was supplied at the sensitive stages of crop 
growth. Similarly, at the end of the study, correspond-
ing final values of SAR were 18.64 with cyclic mode 
(T
3
) and 35.15 and 35.14 in (T
4
) and (T
5
), respectively, 
where canal water was used at salt-sensitive stages. In 
contrast, brackish water was used at tolerant stages of 
crop growth. Our results are supported by earlier find-
ings of (Minhas et al., 2007) that cyclic use or mixing of 
good quality water with higher alkaline water resulted 
in lower exchangeable sodiu percentage (ESP) value 
(sodicity).
Salinity induced reduction in biomass and grain 
yield of rice and wheat crop was observed, and maxi-
mum reduction was documented in treatment where 
brackish water alone was used for irrigation, whereas, 
application of canal water alone or at sensitive growth 
stages and cyclic mode of irrigation showed less reduc-
tion in these attributes. This reduced biomass and grain 
yield of rice and wheat with brackish water were due 
to sodicity/salinity in the soil as we discussed earlier 
that pH
s
, EC
e,
 and SAR of soil increased gradually with 
brackish water. This accumulation of toxic salts in root 
zone asserted physiological stress and negatively affect-
ed the physical and morphological characters of plants 
and consequently, crop growth is reduced (De Oliveira 
et al., 2013; Pessarakli, 2016). Under salt stress, the plant 
experiences osmotic and ionic stresses, leading to leaf 
senescence, reduced water uptake, photosynthetic ac-
tivity, transpiration rate, and promoted metabolic al-
terations (Munns, 2002; Amirjani, 2011). 
According to Zeng and Shannon (2003), salt stress 
in rice crop before the heading reduces the number and 
mass of panicles during the three-leaf stages until boot-
ing. Further, at the flowering stage, salt stress adversely 
affected photosynthesis, which resulted in unfilled 
spikelet formation and ultimately the number of filled 
grains in the panicle decreased (Moradi, 2002; Zhang et 
al., 2015). Brackish water salinity resulted in the reduce 
biomass, leaf area, number of tillers, delay in flowering 
Treatments 1
st
 crop 2
nd
 crop 3
rd
 crop Mean
T
1
 Canal water 38.63 A 32.96 A 36.18 A 35.92 A
T
2
 Consistence use of brackish water 30.76 C 26.47 D 24.52 D 27.25 D
T
3
 Brackish water for rice and canal water for wheat seasonal  
cyclic use
35.77 AB 29.65 B 30.86 B 32.09 B
T
4
 Last two irrigations to rice and initial two irrigations to  
wheat with canal water (supplementation of canal water at  
sensitive stages)
33.80 BC 27.65 CD 27.92 C 29.79 C
T
5
 Last two irrigations to rice but two initial and one last  
irrigation to wheat with canal water
34.30 BC 28.14 BC 28.56 C 30.33 BC
Table 5: Effect of conjunctive use of brackish and canal water on wheat grain yield (g/pot)
Different letters in the same column indicate significant differences by LSD at p ≤ 0.05
Treatments 1
st
 year 2
nd
 year 3
rd
 year
% increase over  
initial  the value
T
1
 Canal water 8.00 8.05 8.07 1.12
T
2
 Consistence use of brackish water 8.41 8.59 8.90 11.52
T
3
 Brackish water for rice and canal water for  
wheat seasonal cyclic use
8.17 8.25 8.33 4.38
T
4
 Last two irrigations to rice and initial two 
irrigations to wheat with canal water  
(supplementation of canal water at sensitive stages)
8.35 8.45 8.65 8.39
T
5
 Last two irrigations to rice but two initial and  
one last irrigation to wheat with canal water
8.30 8.42 8.63 8.14
Table 6: Effect of conjunctive use of brackish and canal water on soil pH
s

Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 117/3 – 2021 7
Sustainable effective use of brackish and canal water for rice-wheat crop production and soil health
and ripening in rice crop (Kavosi, 1995; Castillo et al., 
2007).
The basic principle of sustainable irrigation using 
brackish water is that the concentration of toxic salts in 
the rhizosphere must be below a specific crop thresh-
old (Maas and Hoffman, 1977; Munns and Tester, 2008). 
Some reports showed that rice is tolerant to salinity at 
germination and sensitive during reproductive stages 
(Lafitte et al., 2004; Rad et al., 2011). The current study 
also indicated that application of canal water at the sen-
sitive (reproductive) stages of rice and wheat growth 
was also more effective than consistent use of brackish 
water, and biomass and grain yield were significantly 
higher in T
4
 and T
5
 than T
2
. Comparatively higher val-
ues of growth attributes in T
4
 and T
5 
demonstrated that 
farmers can wisely manage the brackish water for ir-
rigation when fresh water resources are limited. The 
sensitivity of any crop to salt stress often changes from 
one growth stage to the other growth stage (Mojid et al., 
2014) therefore brackish water can be used for irriga-
tion at growth stage where crops have better resistance 
ability (Munns and Tester, 2008). Our results are sup-
ported by previous studies that brackish water could be 
used for irrigation without significant crop yield loss if 
managed intelligently (Al Khamisi et al., 2013; Singh, 
2014; Murad et al., 2018).
If properly managed, alternate irrigation with 
brackish and freshwater, minimize the negative impacts 
on plant growth and displays better soil salt control 
(Huang et al., 2019). Similarly, Xue and Ren (2017) re-
ported that conjunctive use of fresh and brackish water 
significantly increased the yield of sunflower, maize, and 
wheat crop compared with brackish water irrigation. 
Our results are also in harmony with Minhas (1996), 
who stated that the conjunctive use of non-saline and 
saline water improved maize crop yield. Similarly, Gan-
dahi et al. )2017) stated that cotton growth and yield at-
tributes were significantly reduced with brackish water. 
The maximum values of these attributes were recorded 
where non-saline water was used to irrigate the crop.
5 CONCLUSION
Based on the current study results, it was conclud-
ed that:
Treatments 1
st
 year 2
nd
 year 3
rd
 year
% increase over 
the initial value
T
1
 Canal water 2.27 2.32 2.35 5.85
T
2
 Consistence use of brackish water 3.30 5.08 7.42 234.23
T
3
 Brackish water for rice and canal water for wheat  
seasonal cyclic use
2.58 3.72 4.17 87.83
T
4 
Last two irrigations to rice and initial two irrigations 
 to wheat with canal water (supplementation of canal water  
at sensitive stages)
2.92 4.46 6.08 173.87
T
5
 Last two irrigations to rice but two initial and one last  
irrigation to wheat with canal water
2.86 4.36 5.98 169.36
Table 7: Effect of conjunctive use of brackish and canal water on soil EC
e
Treatments 1
st
 year 2
nd
 year 3
rd
 year
% increase over 
initial  the value
T
1
 Canal water 5.96 7.50 7.58 27.39
T
2
 Consistence use of brackish water 19.72 29.37 44.56 648.90
T
3
 Brackish water for rice and canal water for wheat  
seasonal cyclic use
12.16 15.02 18.64 213.27
T
4
 Last two irrigations to rice and initial two irrigations  
to wheat with canal water (supplementation of canal water  
at sensitive stages)
17.29 25.72 35.15 490.75
T
5 
Last two irrigations to rice but two initial and one last  
irrigation to wheat with canal water
15.82 22.68 35.14 490.58
Table 8: Effect of conjunctive use of brackish and canal water on soil SAR

Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 117/3 – 2021 8
K. AHMED et al.
- Continuous use of brackish water caused the salt 
accumulation in soil and induced severe salt stress on 
crop growth and yield. Whereas, supplementation of a 
canal or non-saline water at sensitive growth stages can 
improve the rice-wheat yield significantly rather than 
using brackish water alone during all growth stages. 
Further, the cyclic mode of irrigation can be applied 
successfully with negligible or no negative impacts on 
both crop yield and soil health. 
- When freshwater resources are finite and the use 
of brackish water is inevitable, cyclic use of brackish 
and canal water can ensure the reasonable and sustain-
able use of brackish water in agricultural production.
- Farmers in Pakistan mostly rely on tube wells 
that are pumping poor quality water. Alternate irriga-
tion with brackish and canal water for major crops, like 
rice and wheat is an effective practice for alleviating 
the shortage of freshwater in agricultural production. 
Fig.1: Effect of conjunctive use of brackish and canal water on biomass and grain yield of rice-wheat (average of three sea-
sons). T
1
 (Canal water), T
2
 (Consistence use of brackish water), T
3
 (Brackish water for rice and canal water for wheat seasonal 
cyclic use), T
4
 (Last two irrigations to rice and initial two irrigations to wheat with canal water, supplementation of canal water 
at sensitive stages), T
5
 (Last two irrigations to rice but two initial and one last irrigation to wheat with canal water)
Fig.2: Effect of conjunctive use of brackish and canal water on soil pH
s
, EC
e
 and SAR at the end of study. T
1
 (Canal water), T
2
 
(Consistence use of brackish water), T
3
 (Brackish water for rice and canal water for wheat seasonal cyclic use), T
4
 (Last two 
irrigations to rice and initial two irrigations to wheat with canal water, supplementation of canal water at sensitive stages), T
5
 
(Last two irrigations to rice but two initial and one last irrigation to wheat with canal water)

Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 117/3 – 2021 9
Sustainable effective use of brackish and canal water for rice-wheat crop production and soil health
Therefore, societal awareness among farming commu-
nity to wisely use groundwater and canal water in cyclic 
mode for high-valued crops can potentially be helpful 
to avoid soil salinization and production losses. 
- Current study was a pot experiment conducted 
in a wire house. Therefore, an additional field studies 
are recommended to gain a better understanding of 
long-term effects of brackish water and cyclic use of 
brackish and canal water on production of major crops 
and soil health.
6 REFERENCES
Al Khamisi, S.A., Prathapar, S.A., Ahmed, M. (2013). Con-
junctive use of reclaimed water and groundwater in crop 
rotations. Agricultural Water Management, 116, 228-234.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2012.07.013 
Amirjani, M.R. (2011). Effect of salinity stress on growth, sug-
ar content, pigments and enzyme activity of rice. Interna-
tional Journal of Botany, 7, 73-81. https://doi.org/10.3923/
ijb.2011.73.81
Avais, M.A., Ghulam, Q., Khalil, A., Muhammad, I., Amar, I.S., 
Imtiaz, A.W ., Muhammad, Q.N., Muhammad, S., Muham-
mad, A. (2018). Role of inorganic and organic amend-
ments in ameliorating the effects of brackish water for 
raya-sunflower production. International Journal of Bio-
sciences, 12, 117-122.
Bedaiwy, M.N.A. (2012). A simplified approach for determin-
ing the hydrometer's dynamic settling depth in particle-
size analysis. Catena, 97, 95-103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
catena.2012.05.010
Biswas, A., Amiya, B. (2014). Comprehensive approaches in 
rehabilitating salt affected soils: a review on Indian per-
spective. Open Transactions on Geosciences, 1, 13-24.
https://doi.org/10.15764/GEOS.2014.01003
Bredehoeft, J.D., Young, R. A. (1983). Conjunctive use of 
groundwater and surface water: Risk aversion, Water Re-
source Research, 19, 1111-1121. https://doi.org/10.1029/
WR019i005p01111
 Castillo, E.G., To Phuc, Abdelbaghi, M.A., Kazuyuki, I. (2007). 
Response to salinity in rice: comparative effects of os-
motic and ionic stress. Plant Production Science, 10(2), 
159-170. https://doi.org/10.1626/pps.10.159
Chen, W., Menggui, J., Ty, P.A.F., Yanfeng, L., Yang, X., Tian-
rui, S., Xue, P. (2018). Spatial distribution of soil mois-
ture, soil salinity, and root density beneath a cotton field 
under mulched drip irrigation with brackish and fresh 
water. Field Crops Research, 215, 207-221. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.fcr.2017.10.019
Choudhary, O.P., Ghuman, B.S., Singh, B., Thuy, N., Buresh, 
R.J. (2011). Effects of long-term use of sodic water irri-
gation, amendments and crop residues on soil properties 
and crop yields in rice-wheat cropping system in a calcar-
eous soil. Field Crops Research, 121, 363-372. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.fcr.2011.01.004
De Oliveira, A.B., Alencar, N.L.M., Gomes-Filho, E. (2013). 
Comparison between the water and salt stress effects on 
plant growth and development. In: Sener Akıncı, S. (Ed.), 
Responses of Organisms to Water Stress, (Publisher, In-
techopen, 2013, published: January 16, 2013 under CC BY 
3.0 license. 10.5772/54223). https://doi.org/10.5772/54223
Eaton, F.M. (1950). Significance of carbonate in irriga-
tion waters. Soil Science, 67, 123-133. https://doi.
org/10.1097/00010694-195002000-00004
FAO. (2011). Agriculture and water quality interactions: a 
global overview. SOLAW Background Thematic Report - 
TR08. http://www.fao.org/3/bl092e/bl092e.pdf.
Gandahi, A.W ., Kubar, A., Sarki, M.S., Talpur, N., Gandahi, M. 
(2017). Response of conjunctive use of fresh and saline 
water on growth and biomass of cotton genotypes. Jour-
nal of Basic & Applied Sciences, 13, 326-334. https://doi.
org/10.6000/1927-5129.2017.13.54
Ghafoor, A., Qadir, M., Qureshi, R.H. (1991). Using brackish 
water on normal and salt affected soil in Pakistan: A re-
view. Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 28, 273-
288.
Huang, M., Zhang, Z., Sheng, Z., Zhu, C., Zhai, Y ., Lu, P . (2019). 
Effect on soil properties and maize growth by alternate ir-
rigation with brackish water. Transactions of the ASABE, 
62(2), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.13031/trans.13046
Hussain, Z., Khattak, R.A., Irshad, M., Mahmood, Q., An, P. 
(2016). Effect of saline irrigation water on the leachability 
of salts, growth and chemical composition of wheat (Triti-
cum aestivum L.) in saline-sodic soil supplemented with 
phosphorus and potassium. Journal of Soil Science and 
Plant Nutrition, 16(3), 604-620. https://doi.org/10.4067/
S0718-95162016005000031
Kavosi, M. (1995). The best model to rice yield prediction in 
salinity condition. Dissertation of MSc. Tabriz University.
Lafitte, H.R., Ismail, A., Bennett, J. (2004). Abiotic stress toler-
ance in rice Fore Asia progress and the future. Interna-
tional Rice Research Institute, DAPO 7777, Metro Manila, 
Philippines.
Latif, M., Beg, A. (2004). Hydrosalinity issues, challenges and 
options in OIC member states. In: M. Latif, S. Mahmood, 
and M.M. Saeed, eds. Proceedings of the International 
Training Workshop on Hydrosalinity Abatement and Ad-
vance Techniques for Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture, 
pp. 1-14. September 20-25, 2004. PCRWR, Islamabad.
Latteef, E.M.A. (2010). Saline irrigation water and its effect on 
N use efficiency, growth and yield of sorghum plant using 
15N. MSC thesis. Al-Azhar University, Cairo. p. 46.
Levy, G.H., Mamedov, A.I., Goldstein, D. (2003). Sodicity 
and water quality effects on slaking of aggregates from 
semi-arid soils. Soil Science, 168, 552-562. https://doi.
org/10.1097/01.ss.0000085050.25696.52
Maas, E.V., Hoffman, G.J. (1977). Crop salt tolerance-cur-
rent assessment. Journal of the Irrigation and Drain-
age Division, 103, 115-134. https://doi.org/10.1061/JR-
CEA4.0001137
Minhas, P.S. (1996). Saline water management for irrigation 
in India. Agricultural Water Management, 30(1), 1-24. 
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0378-3774(95)01211-7. https://
doi.org/10.1016/0378-3774(95)01211-7
Minhas, P.S., Dubey, S.K., Sharma. D.R. (2007). Comparative 

Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 117/3 – 2021 10
K. AHMED et al.
effects of blending, intera/inter-seasonal cyclic uses of al-
kali and good quality waters on soil properties and yields 
of paddy and wheat. Agricultural Water Management, 87, 
83-90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2006.06.003
Minhas, P.S., Gupta, R.K. (1993). Conjunctive use of saline 
and non-saline waters. I. Response of wheat to initially 
variable salinity profiles and modes of salinization. Ag-
ricultural Water Management, 23, 125-137. https://doi.
org/10.1016/0378-3774(93)90036-A
Minhas, P.S., Qadir, M., Yadav, R.K. (2019). Groundwater ir-
rigation induced soil sodification and response options. 
Agricultural Water Management, 215, 74-85. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.agwat.2018.12.030
Mojid, M.A., Mia, M.S., Saha, A.K., Tabriz, S.S. (2014). Growth 
stage sensitivity of wheat to irrigation water salinity. Jour-
nal of the Bangladesh Agricultural University, 11, 147-152. 
https://doi.org/10.3329/jbau.v11i1.18226
Moradi, F. (2002). Physiological characterization of rice cul-
tivars for salinity tolerance during vegetative and repro-
ductive stages. Ph.D Thesis. University of philippines, Los 
Banos. Philippines
Munns, R. (2002). Comparative physiology of salt and water 
stress. Plant Cell Environment, 25, 239-250. https://doi.
org/10.1046/j.0016-8025.2001.00808.x
Munns, R., Tester, M. (2008). Mechanisms of salinity toler-
ance. Annual Review of Plant Biology, 59, 651-681. https://
doi.org/10.1146/annurev.arplant.59.032607.092911
Murad, K.F. Akbar, H., Oli, A.F., Sujit, K.B., Khokan, K.S., Ra-
hena, P.R., Jagadish, T. (2018). Conjunctive use of saline 
and fresh water increases the productivity of maize in 
saline coastal region of Bangladesh. Agricultural Water 
Management, 204, 262-270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ag-
wat.2018.04.019
Murtaza, B., Ghulam, M., Muhammad, S., Gary, O., Ghulam, 
A., Muhammad, I., Ghulam, M.S. (2017). Amelioration 
of saline-sodic soil with gypsum can increase yield and 
nitrogen use efficiency in rice-wheat cropping system. 
Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science, 6, 1267-1280.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03650340.2016.1276285
Pessarakli, M. (2016). Handbook of Photosynthesis, third ed. 
CRC Press Florida, Taylor & Francis Publishing Group p. 
846. https://doi.org/10.1201/b19498
Qadir, G., Khalil, A., Amar, I.S., Muhammad, I., Muhammad, 
Q.N., Muhammad, S., Zaheen, M. (2019). Sustainable use 
of brackish water for cotton wheat rotation. Asian Journal 
of Agriculture and Biology, 7(4), 593-601
Qadir, M., Ghafoor, A. Murtaza, G. (2001). Use of saline sodic 
waters through phytoremediation of calcareous saline 
sodic soils. Agricultural Water Management, 50, 197-210.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-3774(01)00101-9
Qadir, M., Oster, J.D., Schuber S., Noble, A.D., Sahrawatk, 
K.L. (2007). Phytoremediation of sodic and saline-sodic 
soils. Advances in Agronomy, 96, 197-247. https://doi.
org/10.1016/S0065-2113(07)96006-X
Qadir, M., Sharma, B.R., Bruggeman, A., Choukr-Allah, R., 
Karajeh, F. (2007). Non-conventional water resources 
and opportunities for water augmentation to achieve 
food security in water scarce countries. Agricultural Wa-
ter Management, 87, 2-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ag-
wat.2006.03.018
Qureshi, A.S., Turral, H., Masih, I. (2004). Strategies for the 
management of conjunctive use of surface water and 
groundwater resources in semi-arid areas: A case study 
from Pakistan. Research Report 86. Colombo, Sri Lanka: 
IWMI.
Qureshi, R.H., Barrett-Lennard, E.G. (1998). Saline Agricul-
ture for Irrigated Land in Pakistan: A handbook. Austral-
ian Centre for International Agriculture Research, Can-
berra.
Rad, H.E., Farshid, A., Rezaei, M., Amiri, E., Khaledian, M.R. 
(2011). The effects of salinity at different growth stage on 
rice yield. Ecology, Environment and Conservation, 17(2), 
111-117.
Rhoades, J.D. (1998). Use of saline and brackish waters for 
irrigation: implications and role in increasing food pro-
duction, conserving water, sustaining irrigation and con-
trolling soil and water degradation. In: R. Ragab, and G. 
Pearce, eds. Proceedings of the International Workshop 
on the Use of Saline and Brackish Water for Irrigation, 
pp. 261-304. July 23-24, 1998, National ICID Committee, 
Bali, Indonesia.
Sharma, D.K., Singh, A., Sharma, P.C., Dagar, J.C., Chaudhari, 
S.K. (2016). Sustainable management of sodic soils for 
crop production: opportunities and challenges. Journal of 
Soil Salinity and Water Quality, 8, 109-130.
Sheoran, P., Basak, N., Ashwani Kumar, A., Yadav, R.K., Ran-
dhir, S., Raman, S., Satyendra, K., Ranjay, K., Sharma, P.C. 
(2021). Ameliorants and salt tolerant varieties improve 
rice-wheat production in soils undergoing sodification 
with alkali water irrigation in Indo-Gangetic Plains of 
India. Agricultural Water Management, 243, 1-13. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106492
Singh, A. (2014). Conjunctive use of water resources for sus-
tainable irrigated agriculture. Journal of Hydrology, 519, 
1688-1697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.09.049
Steel, R.G.D., Torrie, J.H., Dickey, D.A. (1997). Principles and 
Procedures of Statistic: A Biometrical Approach. 3rd edi-
tion, pp, 400-428. Mc Graw Hill book Co. Inc. New York.
U.S. Salinity Lab. Staff. (1954). Diagnosis and Improvement of 
Saline and Alkali Soils. USDA Handbook 60, Washington 
DC, USA.
Xue, J., Ren, L. (2017). Conjunctive use of saline and non‐
saline water in an irrigation district of the Yellow River 
Basin. Irrigation and Drainage, 66, 147-162. https://doi.
org/10.1002/ird.2102
Zaka, M.A., Helge, S., Hafeezullah, R., Muhammad, S, Khalil, 
A. (2018). Utilization of brackish and canal water for rec-
lamation and crop production. International Journal of 
Biosciences, 12, 7-17. https://doi.org/10.12692/ijb/12.3.7-
17
Zeng, L., Shannon, M.C. (2003). Salinity effects on seedling 
growth and yield components of rice. Crop Science, 40, 
996-1003. https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2000.404996x
Zhang, J., Lin, Y.J., Zhu, L.F., Yu, S.M., Sanjoy, K.K., Jin, Q.Y. 
(2015). Effects of 1-methylcyclopropene on function 
of flag leaf and development of superior and inferior 

Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 117/3 – 2021 11
Sustainable effective use of brackish and canal water for rice-wheat crop production and soil health
spikelets in rice cultivars differing in panicle types. Field 
Crops Research, 177, 64-74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
fcr.2015.03.003