## 3 Results
### Effects of Cultivation and Effluent Use on Soil Properties  
It was verified that the soil texture presented a higher sedimentable volume, which could be influenced by the high organic matter content compared to the initial levels (Tables 4-6). This value was mainly observed in the sites where sorghum and pasture were cultivated, compared to the control soil (Table 5). In the case of the physico-chemical variables, the pH did not show differences between the cultivated soil and the control, with no differentiation at the depth of 0.00-0.30 m. However, the pH value at the depth of 0.30-0.60 m was significantly lower in the cultivated soil than in the control treatment. The electrical conductivity in the saturation extract was high, maintaining the classification of saline soil. Although there were no significant differences between the sowing treatments, the mean EC values obtained indicated that in the plots cultivated with pasture, the value was lower, repres \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c} \hline \hline
**Parameter 1** & **Soil Depth** & **Soil Depth** & **Soil Depth** \\  & **(0–0.30 m)** & **(0.30–0.60 m)** & **(0.60–0.90 m)** \\ \hline pH & 7.58 & 7.76 & 7.81 \\ EC (dS/m) & 3.65 & 3.08 & 3.23 \\ SV (g/100 g soil) & 102 & 92 & 94 \\ CO\({}_{3}\)\({}^{2-}\) (meq/L) & 0.00 & 1.00 & 2.00 \\ HCO\({}_{3}\)\({}^{-}\) (meq/L) & 2.94 & 3.65 & 3.57 \\ Cl\({}^{-}\) (meq/L) & 5.54 & 3.02 & 3.02 \\ SO\({}_{4}\)\({}^{2-}\) (meq/L) & 31.81 & 28.28 & 29.56 \\ Na (meq/L) & 8.63 & 5.24 & 6.00 \\ Ext-K (mg/kg) & 1874 & 1286 & 2510 \\ Ca (meq/L) & 25.30 & 25.05 & 24.35 \\ Mg (meq/L) & 6.35 & 4.65 & 5.80 \\ TN (mg/kg) & 2490 & 838 & 468 \\ P available & 21 & 5 & 1 \\ OM (\%) & 2.74 & 0.89 & 0.74 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* EC: electrical conductivity, SV: sedimentable volume, CO\({}_{3}\)\({}^{2-}\): carbonates, HCO\({}_{3}\)\({}^{-}\): bicarbonate, Cl\({}^{-}\): chloride, SO\({}_{4}\)\({}^{2-}\): sulphate, Na: sodium, Ext-K: exchangeable potassium, Ca: calcium, Mg: magnesium, TN: total nitrogen, P available: phosphorous available, OM: organic matter.  
\end{table} 
Table 4: Initial soil properties at different depths (0–0.30, 0.30–0.60, and 0.60–0.90 m). of the plots with sorghum and the control in the 0-30 cm layer (\(p>0.05\)). The deeper layer showed lower values but was still a saline soil. The soluble chloride content showed the same behaviour, which requires special attention as it is a highly toxic element for crops. In the surface layer, 0-30 cm, the plot cultivated with pasture showed an average value close to 10 meq/L, while it was 2.5 times higher in the sorghum plot and 5 times higher than in the pasture plot in the control plot. This indicates that sorghum did not decrease the EC but decreased the soluble chloride content in the saturated extract instead. Soluble potassium remains high, with higher contents than sodium. The rest of the physico-chemical parameters were similar between treatments (\(p>0.05\)) and slightly higher at the beginning (Table 4). The use of the effluent resulted in an increase in soil salinity and the crops planted allowed a partial reduction in soluble salt content, thus being the pasture more efficient in nutrient absorption than sorghum.