Soil salinization restricts the development of agriculture in the Hexi Corridor. In this study， the saline-alkali soil in Guazhou County was taken as the object， and four treatments were set up as no modifier （T₀）， straw granular fertilizer （T₁）， no-tillage （T₂） and Hekang （T₃） to explore the effects of different modifiers on the growth of forage maize， soil nutrients and salt ions. The results showed that soil organic matter， available nitrogen， phosphorus， potassium， Ca²⁺，Mg²⁺， pH and total salt decreased first and then increased under different treatments. Na⁺ increased first and then decreased， K⁺ increased， Cl^-，SO₄^2- and HCO₃^- decreased. With the deepening of soil layer （0-100 cm）， pH， total salt， Na⁺，Cl^-，SO₄^2- increased， while K⁺，Ca²⁺，Mg²⁺and HCO₃^- decreased. In the 0-20 cm plough layer， T₃ had the best effect on reducing pH， total salt and HCO₃^-， and T₂ had the best effect on inhibiting Na⁺ and SO₄^2- accumulation. T₁ significantly increased the contents of soil organic matter， available nitrogen， available phosphorus and available potassium （increased by 13.76%， 29.42%， 244.59% and 11.61%， respectively）， and had the best effect on maize stem diameter， plant height and fresh grass yield （increased by 33.47%， 56.02% and 72.28%， respectively）. In summary， straw granular fertilizer （T₁） is the best choice for the improvement of saline-alkali land in this area.

Saline-alkali soil  /  Corn fields  /  Soil amendments  /  Salt ions  /  Total salt