Integrated Management Of Salt Affected Soils In Agriculture

Integrated Management of Salt Affected Soils in Agriculture is a concise guide to evaluating and addressing soil issues related to saline content. Methods focused, the book combines agricultural and soil-based insights to efficiently remediate salt-affected soil. Environmental stress conditions such as salinity have a devastating impact on plant growth and yield, causing considerable loss to agricultural production worldwide. Soil salinity control prevents soil degradation by salinization and reclaim already saline soils. This book will help develop the proper management procedures, to solve problems of crop production on salt-affected soils. Provides both agricultural science and soil science perspectives on soil salinity Identifies differences in salt-affected soils and appropriate remediation options Includes methodologies based on existing scenario and targeted outcomes

Origin,classification and distribution of salt-affected soils;saline soils and their management;sodic soils and their management;salinity problems of the dryland regions;water quality and crop production;socio-economic considerations in reclamation and management of salt-affectedsoils;

This open access book is an outcome of the collaboration between the Soil and Water Management & Crop Nutrition Section, Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria, and Dr. Shabbir A Shahid, Senior Salinity Management Expert, Freelancer based in United Arab Emirates.The objective of this book is to develop protocols for salinity and sodicity assessment and develop mitigation and adaptation measures to use saline and sodic soils sustainably. The focus is on important issues related to salinity and sodicity and to describe these in an easy and user friendly way. The information has been compiled from the latest published literature and from the authors’ publications specific to the subject matter. The book consists of six chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the terms salinity and sodicity and describes various salinity classification systems commonly used around the world. Chapter 2 reviews global distribution of salinization and socioeconomic aspects related to salinity and crop production. Chapters 3 covers comprehensively salinity and sodicity adaptation and mitigation options including physical, chemical, hydrological and biological methods. Chapter 4 discusses the efforts that have been made to demonstrate the development of soil salinity zones under different irrigation systems. Chapter 5 discusses the quality of irrigation water, boron toxicity and relative tolerance to boron, the effects of chlorides on crops. Chapter 6 introduces the role of nuclear techniques in saline agriculture.

The proceedings of the second meeting of the International Network of Salt-Affected Soils (INSAS) contain the abstracts of the papers presented during the workshop in Tashkent (22–26 May, 2023). The papers provide the up-to-date scientific knowledge and practical solutions for four topics: (1) mapping, assessing and monitoring of salt-affected soils; (2) sustainable management of salt-affected soils: practices and policy; (3) halophyte and saline agriculture and its effect on soil health; (4) integrated soil and water management under saline/sodic conditions. Under the first topic, modern techniques (geophysics, remote sensing, NIR spectroscopy) for mapping and monitroing of salt-affected soils as wel as mapping of environmental susceptibility to soil salinization in dry regions were presented. Under the second topic, different approaches to reclaim saline and sodic soils and improve seed germination including the use of different organic and inorganic amendments, organic biostimulants, biochar and phytoremediation were discussed. Moreover, biodiversity of salt-affected soils and its change along salinity gradient as well as the impact of soil enzymes on the structure and function of soil microbial communities and how soil degradation is associated with specific soil microbiota were reported. Policy gaps on addressing soil salinity were analyzed and further steps how to integrate agenda on SAS into existing agricultural policies were proposed. The results of Participatory Rural Appraisal approach to survey among farmers were provided. Under the third topic, the results on testing different conventional and non-conventional crops in field trials on salt-affected soils irrigated by fresh and saline water were reported. The influence of soil properties on growing halophytes was considered. Under the fourth topic, the ways to optimize the use of poor-quality irrigation water in agriculture were discussed. Some studies reported about the results of modeling of salt and water transport in soils for estimation of leaching requirement or root zone soil salinity. Several studies reported about the negative aspects of using brackish water leading to secondary soil salinization and sodification. For salt-affected areas with groundwater use for irrigation, the approach combining the Food Systems Approach and integrated water resources management was proposed to address the interdependent challenges of food and water security.

The papers assembled here cover topics such as technological advances in soil salinity mapping and monitoring, management and reclamation of salt-affected soils, use of marginal quality water for crop production, salt-tolerance mechanisms in plants, biosaline agriculture and agroforestry, microbiological interventions for marginal soils, opportunities and challenges in using marginal waters, and soil and water management in irrigated agriculture.

Contributed articles.

Salt-affected soils such as saline or sodic soils are distributed in all continents at various levels of problem intensity. They are soils with high amounts of soluble salts and/or sodium ions. An updated information of their distribution and drivers is a first step towards their sustainable management. This book provides technical guidelines and approach for developing a harmonized multiscale soil information of salt-affected soils. The book is organized into three sections covering seven chapters. The sections are sequentially arranged but independently designed to benefit focused readership who may want to go straight to any section. Section 1 gives the background information. It has three chapters covering existing literature on the characteristics and mapping methods for salt problems in the soil. It is intended to illustrate the basic concepts, linkage of the characteristics of salt-affected soils with input data requirements for their mapping, existing classification methods, and global distribution of these soils. Section 2 covers the methodological procedures for developing multiscale spatial information of salt-affected soils. It has two chapters describing requirements, input data preparation, and the procedural steps for developing spatial information of salt-affected soils. It outlines how data from different sources and characteristics are harmonized and integrated to produce information of salt-affected soils. Section 3 covers information sharing and resources mobilization when developing information on salt-affected soils. It gives the guidelines for preparing spatial maps and steps for value-addition to benefit end-users of the information. It also contains a generic training program for building technical capacity for mapping salt-affected

This book will be immensely useful to researchers, teachers and students, officers of command area development authorities, extension workers and above all the farming community of India. Any progress made in land reclamation programs with the help of this book will give us immense satisfaction.