Table of Contents
Soil water salinity can affect soil physical properties by causing fine particles to bind together into aggregates. This process is known as flocculation and is beneficial in terms of soil aeration, root penetration, and root growth.
What makes land saline and fallow?
The primary cause of man-made salinization is the salt brought in with irrigation water. In the absence of sufficient natural drainage (as in waterlogged soils) and without a proper leaching and drainage program to remove salts, this would lead to a high soil salinity and reduced crop yields in the long run.
Why is saline soil considered a problem of soil?
In saline and saline-sodic soils, high concentrations of soluble salts reduce the amount of available water for plants to use. High levels of sodium can be toxic to certain plants. Also, the very high soil pH in high-salt soils greatly changes the nutrients available to the plants.
What is saline soil and their characteristics?
Saline soils generally have good physical properties (because excess salts keep the clay in saline soils in a flocculated state). Their structure, tillage characteristics, and permeability to water are often better than nonsaline soils. They show scattered crop growth, often with white salt crusts on the surface.
How are saline soils formed?
In arid areas, saline soils are formed due to evapotranspiration and lack of rainfall to flush the soils. The practice of waterlogging without adequate drainage has also become a serious cause of soil salinization . Waterlogged soils prevent leaching of the salts imported by the irrigation water.
How do you treat saline soil?
Saline soils with high soluble salts and low exchangeable sodium. The best remedy is leaching with quality irrigation water. If no irrigation water is available, add acidifying fertilizers that contain H+ ions. If all are not available, grow salt-tolerant crop types.
What are the plants living in saline soils called?
A halophyte is a salt-tolerant plant that grows in soil or waters of high salinity, coming into contact with saline water through its roots or by salt spray, such as in saline semi-deserts, mangrove swamps, marshes and sloughs and seashores.
Is soil salinity good or bad?
Although increasing soil solution salinity has a positive effect on soil aggregation and stabilization, at high levels salinity can have negative and potentially lethal effects on plants. As a result, salinity cannot be increased to maintain soil structure without considering potential impacts on plant health.
What is the best treatment for sodic soils?
Adding gypsum The quickest and most effective way to treat sodic subsoil is to add gypsum directly to the subsoil, using deep cultivation, slotting or trenching.
What is meant by saline soil?
Saline soil is a term used to describe excessive levels of soluble salts in the soil water (soil solution), high enough to negatively affect plant growth, resulting in reduced crop yields and even plant death under severe conditions (Figure 1).
What is another name of saline soil?
They are also known as Usara soils. Various local names for saline soils are Reh, Kallar, and Chopan, Rakar, Thur, Karl etc. Formation: These soils have developed in areas with dry climatic conditions (in areas having a little more rainfall than the areas of desert soils) accompanied by lack of proper drainage.
Which type of soil is saline in nature?
Arid soil is generally sandy in texture and saline in nature. It contains high salt and low humus content. Arid soils are made fertile by adding gypsum.
Why is salinity a problem?
Salinity affects: farms – salinity can decrease plant growth and water quality resulting in lower crop yields and degraded stock water supplies. Excess salt affects overall soil health, reducing productivity. It kills plants, leaving bare soil that is prone to erosion.
Where are saline soils found?
2.3 The saline soils are found mainly in the States of Gujarat, Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Isolated patches of problem soils are also found in other States.
Which salt is more predominance in saline soils?
Sodium and chloride are by far the most dominant ions, particularly in highly saline soils, although calcium and magnesium are usually present in sufficient quantities to meet the nutritional needs of crops.
Does Gypsum remove salt from soil?
Gypsum is used as an aid to hasten the removal of soluble salts (e.g., sodium) from soils. It is important to keep in mind that while the addition of gypsum makes it easier for soluble salts to be leached by water moving through the soil, only leaching can remove soluble salts from soil.
What is difference between saline soil and alkaline soil?
The key difference between saline and alkaline soils is that saline soils have a pH less than 8.5 and an exchangeable sodium percentage less than 15, while alkaline soils have a pH greater than 8.5 and an exchangeable sodium percentage higher than 15. Alkaline soils and saline soils are two types of basic soils.
What is the difference between saline and sodic soils?
Saline soils have excessive amounts of soluble salt, while sodic soils have high amounts of exchangeable sodium in the soil itself.
How do you reduce salinity in water?
Managing salinity planting, regenerating and maintaining native vegetation and good ground cover in recharge, transmission and discharge zones, where possible. using more groundwater in recharge areas by pumping water from bores and redirecting it to other storages.
How do you manage salinity soil on a farm?
How To Reduce Soil Salinity? Increase drainage for better flushing (to remove salts from the ground surface). Plant salt-tolerant crops to manage economic risks and to ensure land cover. Remove salt crystals from the surface mechanically. Restore the balance via chemical amendments (e.g., gypsum or sulfuric acid).
How do you increase the salinity of soil?
Human practices can increase the salinity of soils by the addition of salts in irrigation water. Proper irrigation management can prevent salt accumulation by providing adequate drainage water to leach added salts from the soil. Disrupting drainage patterns that provide leaching can also result in salt accumulations.
Why is soil salinity important?
Soil salinity imposes ion toxicity, osmotic stress, nutrient (N, Ca, K, P, Fe, Zn) deficiency and oxidative stress on plants, and thus limits water uptake from soil. Soil salinity significantly reduces plant phosphorus (P) uptake because phosphate ions precipitate with Ca ions (Bano and Fatima, 2009).
How does salinity affect sea life?
Salinity can affect the density of ocean water: Water that has higher salinity is denser and heavier and will sink underneath less saline, warmer water. This can affect the movement of ocean currents. It can also affect marine life, which may need to regulate its intake of saltwater.
