The three important factors in applying gypsum are method, rate and frequency of application. In considering these factors much depends on whether the agriculture is dryland or irrigated, whether the topsoil or subsoil (or both) is to be treated and the nature and extent of the problem.
General Application Methods
1. Irrigation, the most immediately effective way of applying gypsum to treat topsoils and subsoils IS 10 dissolve it in irrigation water. As little as 0.85 t/ha applied in the water at one irrigation can have more of an effect than 2.5 t/ha of broadcast application. Special solution grade gypsum and equipment is required to provide the suspension and solubility required for this type of application.
2. Broadcast application using a gypsum spreader to treat top soils. Rain and irrigation will dissolve the gypsum. Gypsum is best applied well before sowing to maximise subsoil water storage, particularly under dryland conditions,
3. Deep tillage, helps to incorporate gypsum into the subsoil but should not be done unless the subsoil is dry, otherwise considerable structural damage will result.
Concentrated gypsum suspensions can be injected into or deeply mixed with subsoils, but the machinery is expensive. Deep placement via shrinkage cracks appears to be the most economic approach,
4. Aerial spreading is another method of gypsum application. It is used mainly for fertilising pasture,
5. Aerial spraying, solution grade gypsum can be applied via spraying aircraft onto the crop. The method provides a very even spread of the fine particles ensuring availability to all the plants immediately.
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