FORAGE YIELD OF SORGHUM AND WINTER CLOVERS AS AFFECTED BY BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL RECLAMATION OF A HIGHLY ALKALINE SOIL

A field experiment was conducted on a highly alkaline soil (pH 10.6, e xchangeable sodium 95%) to compare biological reclamation using Leptoc hloa fusca with chemical reclamation using gypsum. Rice gave satisfact ory yields in the first year of gypsum application but sorghum and Ses bania gave extremely poor yields. The yield of Leptochloa was not affe cted by gypsum application. Trifolium resupinatum yielded more than T alexandrinum when sown in the winter season. The green forage yield of sorghum was greatest when the sorghum followed Leptochloa grown for t wo years, with the harvested grass allowed to decompose on the site. T he results show that biological reclamation with Leptochloa is a good substitute for chemical reclamation with gypsum.