2.3.1. EC<sup>e</sup> Method

350 g of soil was used to prepare the soil saturated paste and then the paste was allowed to stand for 24 h (USDA, 1954). Subsequently, the vacuum extracts were collected and EC<sup>e</sup> was measured by a conductivity meter (WTW, Cond 315i). For the saturation percentage (SP) determination, a subsample of each paste was oven dried at 105 ◦C for 24 h.
