A ny material (organic or inorganic), applied to soil to provide one or more essential plant nutrients is called fertilizer (Vidya and Lakshmi, 2014). Weeds are one of the overlooked natural resources that can support and help to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers. The addition of compost to salt-affected soil improved the soil properties including soil porosity water holding capacity, improved nutritional status, bulk density, soil pH s , EC e and SAR (Zaka et al., 2018;Wright et al., 2007).Aquatic weed, water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) grows at an alarming rate and float freely on rivers, ponds, lakes etc. (Lata and Veenapani, 2011). Due to its harmful effects on people's livelihoods and water bodies, it is known as the most obnoxious weed in the world (Wilson et al., 2005;Singh and Bishnoi, 2013). Attempts made to control this weed through different means like biological, physical and chemicals have met with little success (Abdelsabour, 2010). Nonetheless, different researchers presented the idea to obtain the benefits from this aquatic weed rather than seeing it as a rogue plant (Anjanabha and Abstract | Composting the unwanted aquatic weeds for supply of essential plant nutrients and improving the health of salt-affected soil is a simpler technique. Therefore, present research work was carried out to appraise the efficacy of water hyacinth compost as an ameliorant for improving the deteriorated properties of saline-sodic soil. Treatments included were; T 1 , control, T 2 , gypsum @ 100 % GR, T 3 , gypsum @ 50 % of GR, T 4 , hyacinth compost @ 15 t ha -1 , T 5 , gypsum @ 50 % of GR + hyacinth compost @ 5 t ha -1 , T 6 , gypsum @ 50 % of GR + hyacinth compost @ 10 t ha -1 , T 7 , gypsum @ 50 % of GR + hyacinth compost @ 15 t ha -1 . At start of study, soil had pH s (pH of soil saturated past) = 8.91, SAR (sodium adsorption ratio) = 44.24, EC e (electrical conductivity of soil extract) = 5.02 (dS m -1 ), GR (gypsum requirement) = 10.18 (t ha -1 ), BD (bulk density) = 1.66 (Mg m -3 ), HC (hydraulic conductivity) = 0.35 (cm hr -1 ). Rice and wheat, crops were grown in the rotation. Data analysis showed that gypsum and hyacinth compost remarkably improved the soil SAR, pH s , EC e , BD, HC, growth and yield characteristics of rice and wheat crops, however at the same time use of gypsum and hyacinth compost in combination proved more superior to their sole application. Hyacinth compost @ 10 and 15 t ha -1 with gypsum @ 50 % of GR performed equally in all studied parameters of rice and wheat crops and soil properties. Therefore, integrated use of gypsum @ 50 % of GR + hyacinth compost @ 10 t ha -1 , seem as economical and a potential agro-ecological strategy for improving the deteriorated properties of saline-sodic soil and crop production.