Optimized Irrigation Strategies for Saline Soil Remediation in Agricultural Lands Under Water-Limited Conditions

Abstract

Soil salinization is a prevalent global issue, significantly impacting crop cultivation and food production. This study investigates the potential of sustainably harnessing rainwater for the remediation of saline soils in water-scarce regions. Soil column leaching experiments were performed to evaluate the effectiveness of different methods for salt removal from the tillage layer. The findings demonstrated that intermittent leaching was more effective than continuous leaching in remediating NaCl-type saline soils. When continuous leaching with 27 cm of rainwater was applied, the salt removal in soil layers below 5 cm ranged from 12.28% to 26.86%. Intermittent leaching increased the salt removal rate to between 44.49% and 54.18%. This higher desalination efficiency of intermittent leaching is attributable to the extended soil–water contact time. When the leaching time in continuous leaching was increased from 1.5 h to over 4.5 h, comparable desalination effects were produced. The rainwater leaching demonstrated similar salt removal patterns in Na2SO4-type saline soils. However, due to the stronger affinity of SO42− for clay particles, their effluent concentration and removal were lower than Cl− under the same conditions. To optimize desalination efficiency, operational parameters can be adjusted to reduce the leaching depth of rainwater from 27 cm to 15 cm, and the interval between leaching events from 24 h to 4.5 h. The findings of this study may serve as a valuable reference for saline soil restoration and improvement efforts in water-scarce regions.