Soil Salinity Problems Research Articles

Reconciling crop production and ecological conservation under uncertainty: A fuzzy credibility-based multi-objective simulation-optimization model

To cope with the problems of agricultural water conflicts and secondary soil salinization in arid regions, a fuzzy credibility-based multi-objective simulation-optimization model is proposed for optimizing irrigation water allocation and crop area planning under uncertainty. This model combines simulation module of enabling to quantify daily physical process of water-salt movement among soil water, crop root zone and groundwater aquifers, optimization module of managing water resources and fuzzy credibility-constrained programming into a general framework. It's applied to a case study in the Jiefangzha Irrigation Subarea in Hetao Irrigation District, Northwest China. Three objectives encompassing maximizing net economic benefits, maximizing nutritional water productivity and minimizing carbon emissions from agricultural system are interconnected through decision variables. Four credibility scenarios of fuzzy constrains including β = 0.6 to 0.9 are presented for obtaining decision-making solutions. Through NSGA-III, such a high-dimensional multi-objective problem is solved. This study uses the multi-objective constraint-handling strategy to handle constraints, which exploits the effective information within infeasible solutions. Moreover, it emphasizes the importance of soil water-salt movement processes in determining optimal solutions and helps decision makers weigh the system outputs and risk level of violating constraints. Results illustrate that when β increases from 0.6 to 0.9, net economic benefit decreases from 1.742 × 109 Yuan to 1.706 × 109 Yuan, nutritional water productivity decreases from 9136.0 kcal/m3 to 8819.6 kcal/m3, and carbon emissions increase from 439.6 × 106 kg. C to 441.6 × 106 kg.C, which shows that an increasing credibility level leads to lower system benefits and conservative system outputs. The results can provide valuable information for managing irrigation water resources and controlling salinity accumulation. Furthermore, dynamic decisions related to water-salt movement processes can be readily generated. These findings show that the developed approach is globally applicable for managing irrigation water in arid and semiarid regions that face similar problems.

EFFICIENCY OF MACHINE LEARNING ALGORITHMS IN SOIL SALINITY DETECTION USING LANDSAT-8 OLI IMAGERY

Abstract. Climate change is one of the biggest problems facing today’s world. Rising temperatures and declining rainfall have had a profound effect on the planet, one of which is the destructive effects of soil salinity. Soil salinity phenomena commonly occur in arid and semi-arid regions. Maharloo Salt Lake, southeast of Shiraz, Iran, with an arid and semi-arid climate, has faced severe droughts in the past and is dealing with the soil salinity problem. One useful way to manage land and soil in such areas is regular monitoring of the soils and lands and keeping abreast of changes to prevent land degradation and erosion. With the advancement of technology, remote sensing techniques to monitor natural factors have become very popular. Landsat sensor images were used in this research, and several environmental indicators were extracted by combining satellite bands. Three machine learning algorithms, RF, GBM, and MLP, were used to evaluate methods for monitoring and mapping saline soils. The models were trained and then tested to compare the accuracy and performance of each model in predicting soil salinity. GBM algorithm showed the best performance with R2 = 0.89 and RMSE = 0.63 for testing the dataset after that RF model with R2 = 0.85 and RMSE = 0.71 and the worst performance was for MLP model with R2 = 0.75 and RMSE = 0.88. The figures mapped from the results of these algorithms for salinity distribution in this region showed that by choosing the appropriate algorithm and suitable in-situ data, it could be possible to estimate soil salinity to an excellent extent by satellite data.

Remote sensing and statistical analyses for exploration and prediction of soil salinity in a vulnerable area to seawater intrusion

Soils along the Egyptian coast are vulnerable to environmental degradation and soil salinity problems. The main objective of this study is to identify and rapidly predict salt affected soils using remote sensing data and multivariate statistical analysis. To achieve this objective, the Operational Land Imager 8 (OLI) of Landsat imagery acquired in March 2022 was processed through the Maximum Likelihood classifier to assess Landscape features and to produce Normalized difference salinity index (NDSI) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Water and soil samples were collected from 13 field sites as ground truth data and to investigate representative physical and chemical properties. Linear regression model was used to predict soil salinity while soil parameters were mapped using Inverse Distance Weight (IDW) in ArcGIS 10.5. In order to explore the soil salinity content using VNIR-SWIR spectra, this work investigated the potential of Partial least squares regression (PLS regression) and SVM (Support vector machine). For simulating salinity in the investigated area, a total number of 65 different sites were identified considering that almost 75 % (50 sites) were used to develop the model and 25 % (15 sites) for validation of the established model. The results indicated that EC levels of water samples are not suitable for irrigation (> 3 mS/cm). Majority of the collected soil samples represent saline-alkaline soils. NDSI ranged from −0.83 to 0.57 with mean of −0.25. Based on the variance of components, 90 % of data were obtained from the first three PCA. The PLS model's R2 score of 0.763 and extremely low p value indicates how well it predicts soil salinity. SVM model R2, on the other hand, is 0.719. Further, Ca++ and Mg++ are the main significant parameters selected in the predicted model. This shows that remote sensing data and multivariate analysis are very important tools to map spatial variation and predict soil salinity. The developed model for salinity considered both the spectral retrieved parameters and lab analyses of cations giving higher accuracy.

Effect of Salinity (NaCl) Stress on Root-shoot Traits of Tomato in Hydroponic Culture

Background: Tomato is one of the most important and popular vegetable crop grown mainly in dry seasons in Bangladesh. The southern part of the country is suffering from soil salinity problem due to tidal floods. The increasing salinity in the cultivatable land causes huge crop failure. A dozen of tomato varieties have been developed but they are not been tested for salinity tolerance. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the tolerance level of tomato varieties against NaCl salinity stress at the vegetative stage. Methods: The study comprised of four levels of electrical conductivity (EC) based NaCl salinity viz., EC 2 (control), EC 4, EC 6 and EC8 mS/cm and eight varieties of tomato. The two-factor pot experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with four replications. NaCl salinity was imposed on the tomato plants through a hydroponic culture system and the effects of salinity on shoot-roots traits were measured. Result: Results showed that morphological traits of tomato plants varied significantly with the salinity levels and variety. It is also noticed that all the vegetative traits reduced as salt concentrations increased in the solution. In combined effects of variety and salinity levels, it was found that BARI Tomato-17 performed superior. It can be concluded that variety BARI Tomato-17 showed comparatively salt tolerant than the other varieties.

Overexpression of Mtr-miR319a Contributes to Leaf Curl and Salt Stress Adaptation in Arabidopsis thaliana and Medicago truncatula.

Salt stress is a worldwide agronomic issue that limits crop yield and quality. Improving salt stress tolerance via genetic modification is the most efficient method to conquer soil salinization problems in crops. Crop miRNAs have been declared to be tightly associated with responding and adapting to salt stress and are advantageous for salt tolerance modification. However, very few studies have validated vital salt tolerance miRNAs and coupled potent target genes in Medicago species, the most economically important forage legume species. In this study, Mtr-miR319a, a miRNA that was identified from the previous next-generation sequencing assay of salt-treated Medicago truncatula, was overexpressed in M. truncatula and Arabidopsis thaliana, inducing the curly leaves and salt stress tolerance phenotypes. Combining the elevated expression level of Mtr-miR319a in the M. truncatula overexpression lines under normal and salt-treatment conditions, the regulatory roles of Mtr-miR319a in leaf development and salt stress adaptation were demonstrated. Several predicted target genes of Mtr-miR319a were also regulated by Mtr-miR319a and were associated with the aforementioned phenotypes in M. truncatula plants, most notably MtTCP4. Our study clarified the functional role of Mtr-miR319a and its target genes in regulating leaf development and defending salt stress, which can help to inform crop breeding efforts for improving salt tolerance via genetic engineering.

المشاكل الطبيعية التي تواجه الإنتاج الزراعي في ريف قضاء هيت

The study area suffers from a number of natural problems that affect agricultural production, the most important of which are the problems related to climate, soil erosion, the problem of agricultural pests and diseases, jungles, the problem of water and the problem of soil salinity. Its impact on agricultural production, one of the problems that is difficult to control is the problem of extreme climate, as it clearly affects crops, especially with the decline of the idea of protected agriculture, which provides suitable weather for plants. As for erosion, it leads to a significant decrease in soil fertility, as well as pollution of the river and air. It was necessary to address this problem by providing vegetation cover and intensifying agriculture. As for pests, we have noticed the spread of many types of agricultural pests that have had a very clear impact on agricultural production, especially with the absence of means to combat them and the farmers’ ignorance of how to combat each type. As for the jungle, it is a problem with known causes, but it needs solutions, including combating the jungle before planting and purifying the seeds before planting, and one of the natural problems affecting agricultural production is the water problem. Drought, as for the problem of salinity, random watering by immersion, high temperatures, salinity of the water itself, and the disappearance of drains are all factors that exacerbated the problem of salinity.

Additive effects of combined heat and salt stress is manifested in an enhanced sodium ions accumulation and increased membrane damage in wheat seedlings

Domestication of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in some tropical and subtropical regions may encounter both high temperature and soil salinity problems. This research aims to investigate how salt and heat stress combination affects growth and physiological characteristics of wheat seedlings to unravel their response mechanisms. The 14-d-old wheat seedlings of three cultivars were treated with salt stress (150 mM NaCl), heat stress (42 °C for 4 h) and combined stress (150 mM NaCl at 42 °C for 4 h). Growth and physiological parameters were monitored at 0 h, 24 h, 5 d and 10 d after stress exposure except for ion concentration, which was analyzed at 5 d post stress exposure. The combined stress inhibited shoot growth and compromised physiological parameters (e.g., relative water content [RWC], malondialdehyde [MDA], electrolyte leakage [EL], Na+ content and Na+/K+ ratio) to a greater extent than a single salt or heat stress, demonstrating additive effects particularly on plant water status and membrane stability. After 10 d exposure to the combined stress, the most sensitive cultivar ‘Fahng 60’ exhibited the highest reduction in shoot dry weight (34%). Moreover, ‘Fhang 60’ showed the lowest RWC (36%) and the highest EL (75%) while ‘Samerng 2’ and ‘Phrae 60’ had RWC of 70% and 64%, and EL of 54% and 60%, respectively. The effect was remarkably evidenced after 5 d of stress exposure, suggesting a late onset of stress injury. Together, the results demonstrated that the effect of salt and heat stress combination was additive, which could be manifested in an enhanced Na+ accumulation and membrane damage.

Soil Salinity Prediction and Its Severity Mapping Using a Suitable Interpolation Method on Data Collected by Electromagnetic Induction Method

Salt mining and shrimp farming have been practiced in the Non Thai district and the surrounding areas for more than 30 years, creating saline soil problems. To solve the soil salinity problem, soil salinity prediction and mapping utilizing the electromagnetic induction method (EMI) and spatial interpolation methods were examined in the Non Thai district, Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand. The research objectives were (1) to predict soil salinity using spatial interpolation methods and (2) to identify a suitable spatial interpolation method for soil salinity severity mapping. The research methodology consisted of five steps: apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) measurement using an electromagnetic induction (EMI) method; in situ soil sample collection and electrical conductivity of the saturated soil paste extract (ECe) measurement; soil electrical conductivity estimation using linear regression analysis (LRA); soil salinity prediction and accuracy assessment; and soil salinity severity classification and overlay analysis with relevant data. The result of LRA showed a strong positive relationship between ECe and ECa. The correlation coefficient (R) values of a horizontal measuring mode (HH) and a vertical measuring mode (VV) were 0.873 to 0.861, respectively. Four selected interpolation methods—Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), Ordinary Kriging (OK), Ordinary CoKriging (OCK) with soil moisture content, and Regression Kriging (RK) without covariable factor—provided slightly different patterns of soil salinity prediction with HH and VV modes. The mean values of the ECe prediction from the four methods at the district level varied from 2156.02 to 2293.25 mS/m for HH mode and from 2377.38 to 2401.41 mS/m for VV mode. Based on the accuracy assessment with the rank-sum technique, the OCK is a suitable interpolation method for soil salinity prediction for HH mode. At the same time, the IDW is suitable for soil salinity prediction for the VV mode. The dominant soil salinity severity classes of the two measuring modes using suitable spatial interpolation methods were strongly and very strongly saline. Consequently, the developed research methodology can be applied to conduct soil salinity surveys to reduce costs and save time in other areas by government agencies in Thailand. Nevertheless, to apply the EMI method for soil salinity survey, the users should understand the principle of EMI and how to calibrate and operate the EM device properly for accurate ECa measurement.

Effect of some Pseudomonas strains and Agave americana L. on wheat germination under salt stress

Currently, several efforts focus remedying the problem of agricultural soil salinity using eco-friendly strategies. This study aimed particularly the study of Triticum durum (durum wheat) seeds germination in the presence of Pseudomonas strains and hydro-alcoholic extract of Agave americana L. under saline stress conditions. The preliminary phytochemical screening of A. americana, phylogenetic identification and production of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) by Pseudomonas strains, in vitro impact of hydro-alcoholic extract and Pseudomonas strains combination on salt stress resistance, preliminary effects of A. americana on Triticum durum germination and phytopathogenic fungi inhibition under salt stress were carried out using corresponding protocols. In in vitro trials, phytochemical screening revealed the richness of A. americana in polyphenols (1014.062±161.017 mM GA equivalent/g FW) and flavonoids (51.065±27.391 mg quercetin equivalent/g FW). The ability of Pseudomonas strains to produce the phytohormone indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) varied from 116.67±8.25 µg/ml to 857.14±80.50 µg/ml. The leaf extract of A. americana is an effective osmoprotectant that improves the resistance of the strain P1 Pseudomonas plecoglissicida to saline stress. In in vivo experiments, the extract of A. americana did not show any effect on the germination of wheat seeds. However, it effectively inhibited the contamination of seeds by phytopathogenic fungi during germination and saline conditions. Findings of the study revealed that Pseudomonas plecoglissicida and A. americana extract are very promising for the inhibition of phytopathogenic fungi and the alleviation of salt stress.

Sentinel-2 Satellite Imagery-Based Assessment of Soil Salinity in Irrigated Rice Fields in Portugal

Salinization is a major soil degradation threat in irrigated lands worldwide. In Portugal, it affects several pockets of irrigated agricultural areas, but the spatial distribution and intensity of soil salinity are not well known. Unlike conventional approaches to appraise soil salinity, remote sensing multispectral data have great potential for detecting, monitoring, and investigating soil salinity problems in agricultural areas. This study explores the assessment of soil salinity in irrigated rice cultivation fields using two types of multispectral-based indices calculated from Sentinel-2 satellite imagery: (i) vegetation indices (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Generalized Difference Vegetation Index and Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index), to monitor the indirect effect of salinity on rice growth; and (ii) salinity indicators, namely those based on visible and near-infrared bands (Normalized Difference Salinity Index) and on shortwave infrared bands (Salinity Index ASTER). The data are for the Lower Mondego Valley (Central Portugal) and the period 2017–2018. Results revealed that salinity indices can be used for mapping soil salinity and constitute a valuable soil salinity assessment tool in rice cultivation areas affected by salinity issues. As there is less reported inventorying of spatial extent of such degradation in irrigated agricultural areas of Portugal, this innovative approach allowed by remote sensing technology can add to understanding the spatial extent of such areas and undertaking more such studies spatially and temporally.

Influence of environmental-friendly bio-organic ameliorants on abiotic stress to sustainable agriculture in arid regions: A long term greenhouse study in northwestern Egypt

The problem of soil salinity is rapidly increasing, with more than 950 million hectares affected by salinity stress (Arora et al., 2017). The amelioration of saline-sodic soils using chemical ameliorates could increase CO2 emissions and soil degradation. Therefore, amending saline-sodic soil with environmentally friendly bio-organic ameliorants such as brewer's spent grain (SG) and Azospirillum (A. brasilense) bacteria could represent a safe and cheaper approach compared to other organic (compost; CT) and mineral fertilizers. Under greenhouse conditions, maize was grown in saline-sodic soil amended with bio-organic ameliorants. Nine treatments were included; (i) SG1 (23.8 t ha−1); (ii) SG2 (47.6 t ha−1); (iii) TC1 (23.8 t ha−1); (iv) TC2 (47.6 t ha−1); (v) injection of A. brasilense with corn seeds (Az); (vi) combination of A. brasilense and SG (Az + SG1); (vii) combination of A. brasilense and compost (Az + TC1); (viii) mineral fertilizers (NPK) and (ix) the control (CK). The results revealed that soil amended with Az and SG2 significantly decreased the exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) and higher cation exchange capacity (CEC). Compared with the control, the exchangeable sodium (Ex-Na+) concentration was decreased by 53.2 and 49.27%, for Az and Az + SG1 treatments, respectively. The fresh- and dry weight observed for Az + SG1, SG2, and Az treatments were increased compared to TC1, TC2, NPK, and CK treatments. The grain and biological yields were higher in Az + SG1 and SG2 than in TC2, NPK ameliorants, and CK. The bio-organic ameliorants alleviated the abiotic stress, enhance the growth and productivity of corn plants, decrease soil ESP and Na+ content, and enhance soil fertility. In conclusion, the application of SG2 can enhance the growth, and productivity of maize grown under salinity-sodicity stress. Therefore, SG2 and Az + SG1 are recommended for direct application in saline-sodic soil.

Review on Baste Soil Improving Approaches for Water Logging and Soil Salinization Problems in Agricultural Land of Ethiopia

Irrigation development is a priority taxes for agricultural transformation in Ethiopia. But poor practices of irrigation management discourage efforts to improve livelihoods and expose people and the environment to risks. In Ethiopia severe waterlogging and salinity problems have challenged agricultural production and resulted in substantially lower yields than the potential expected.

Development of Retrotransposon-Based Molecular Markers for Characterization of Persea americana (Avocado) Cultivars and Horticultural Races

Persea americana (avocado) represents one of the most demanded food products worldwide, with an important impact in several agronomy-based economies. The avocado is one of the most salt-sensitive and valuable crops. It is therefore necessary to use salt-tolerant varieties, such as the West Indian, for cultivation in locations with soil salinity problems, such as the Canary Islands. Therefore, characterization of avocado cultivars is in demand, as well as development of molecular tools able to easily identify the main avocado cultivars and horticultural races. In the present work, inter-Primer Binding Site (iPBS) and Inter-Retrotransposon Amplified Polymorphism (IRAP) techniques, which are based on retrotransposon with Long Terminal Repeats (LTR), have been implemented for the first time in P. americana, allowing the characterization of genetic variation among cultivars from the three main horticultural races and the identification of potential P. americana LTR sequences. The iPBS approach showed clear advantages over its technical implementation, and allowed a better delimitation of horticultural races, especially when focused on West Indian cultivars. However, both techniques generated reproducible genetic fingerprints that not only allowed genetic characterization of each cultivar analyzed, but also revealed potential molecular markers for the identification of avocado cultivars and horticultural races.

An Outlook on the Chenopodium Quinoa Willd (Quinoa) Plant and the Role of the in Vitro Culture and Nanotechnology in Mitigation of Salinity Stress: A Review

Climate change and scarcity of water resources in many countries of the Middle East have led to a drastic decline in the quantities of the main crops and exacerbated the problem of soil salinity. Therefore, it is imperative to find alternative crops that would enhance food security and can tolerate abiotic stresses such as soil salinization. Quinoa is a multi-purpose crop, grown mainly because of its historical, ecological, economic, and high nutritional value. The plant is highly adapted to different environments, and it can be grown in areas with marginal soils that are poor in rainwater. The emergence of this crop's importance and its distinctive properties began in the seventies of the last century. So, there is a need to increase this crop production under salinity conditions using new technology. The plant tissue culture can play an important role to give suitable conditions to study the plant responses to salinity stress via using different factors such as nanoparticles and others. Beside that, the other factors and environmental conditions can be easily controlled in vitro which makes the study easier. In this review, the description and response of the quinoa plant to salinity stress were summarized. Furthermore, the ability to use plant tissue culture and study the effect of adding nanoparticles (NPs) to the culture media to increase salt tolerance was the hot spot of this review. This was to find out the importance of nanoparticles and the in vitro plant tissue culture to increase the quinoa tolerance against salinity stress.

Remote Sensing Monitoring and Driving Force Analysis of Salinized Soil in Grassland Mining Area

To deal with the problem of soil salinization that exists widely in semi-arid grassland, the Shengli Coalfield in Xilinhot City was selected as the study area. Six periods of Landsat remote sensing data in 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014, and 2017 were used to extract the salinity index (SI) and surface albedo to construct the SI-Albedo feature space. The salinization monitoring index (SMI) was used to calculate and classify the soil salinization grades in the study area. The soil salinization status and its dynamic changes were monitored and analyzed. Combined with the logistic regression model, the roles of human and natural factors in the development of soil salinization were determined. The results were as follows: (1) The SMI index constructed using the SI-Albedo feature space is simple and easy to calculate, which is conducive to remote sensing monitoring of salinized soil. R2 of the SMI and soil salt content in the 2017 data from the study area is 0.7313, which achieves good results in the quantitative analysis and monitoring of soil salinization in the Xilinhot Shengli Coalfield. (2) The study area is a grassland landscape. However, grassland landscapes are decreasing year by year, and town landscapes, mining landscapes, and road landscapes are greatly increased. The areas of soil salinization reversion in the Shengli mining area from 2002–2005, 2005–2008, 2008–2011, 2011–2014, 2014–2017, and 2002–2017 were 65.64 km2, 1.03 km2, 18.44 km2, 0.9 km2, 7.52 km2, and 62.33 km2, respectively. The overall trend of soil salinization in the study area was reversed from 2002 to 2017. (3) The driving factors of salinized land from 2002 to 2008 are as follows: the distance to the nearest town landscape > the distance to the nearest mining landscape > the distance to the nearest road landscape. The driving factors of salinized land from 2008 to 2017 are as follows: the distance to nearest mining landscape > the distance to the nearest water landscape > the distance to nearest town landscape > altitude > aspect. Coal exploitation and town expansion have occupied a large amount of saline land, and petroleum exploitation and abandoned railway test sites have intensified the development of saline land. This study provides a reference for the treatment and protection of soil salinization in semi-arid grassland mining areas.

ТЕХНОЛОГИЯ ИЗГОТОВЛЕНИЯ ЭНЕРГЕТИЧЕСКИ АКТИВНОЙ ЭКОДОБАВКИ С ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЕМ ПРИРОДНЫХ, МИНЕРАЛЬНЫХ И БАКТЕРИАЛЬНЫХ РЕСУРСОВ

The article deals with the problem of soil salinization, focuses on the problem of deterioration of soil fertility and the quality of agricultural land. The technology of manufacturing an energetically active eco-additive is proposed, which includes lactobacilli, salt-resistant bacteria of the Caspian Sea, nitrogen-forming bacteria and bacteria obtained from rainwater (strain D1) related to saprophytic bacteria. A technology of production of an energy-active eco additive is also proposed, which, in addition to saprophytic microbes and unicellular algae, includes calcined algae, sulfur and biomass of plant origin (waste), which are a source of alternative energy. The use of the last component of eco additive has a detrimental effect on pathogenic fungi and a positive effect on bacteria and algae. This makes it possible to widely use eco-additive in saline lands and greenhouses to combat pathogenic fungi and aridity, in addition, it contributes to an increase in the number of bacteria in the soil that contribute to the rapid decomposition of chemical minerals and also increase soil fertility.

ПРОБЛЕМА ЗАСОЛЕНИЯ ПОЧВ

The purpose of this article is to study the problem of soil salinization, to identify the causes of salt in the soil, to consider effective solutions to this problem. Various types of salinization are shown, which includes primary salinization associated with natural processes (weathering of minerals, etc.), and secondary salinization, which is the result of improper irrigation regime and resulting from excessive watering, which increases the level of salty groundwater or irrigation with highly mineralized water. The problems of the detrimental effect of salinization on the soil, ways of its elimination and consequences are revealed. The measures necessary to restore saline soils by leaching salts from the soil profile due to excessive irrigation in combination with a drainage system deep enough to prevent capillary rise of water back to the root zone or to the soil surface are shown. The issue of salinity is an urgent problem in coastal areas around the world. This affects the natural environment and leads to huge economic losses due to the impact on agricultural productivity and food safety. Soil salinization is one of the serious problems of land degradation due to its adverse impact on land productivity. Soil salinity depends on both natural and anthropogenic factors. And also examples of salinization on various soil sites are given, which include arid, semi-arid soils, the most susceptible to primary salinization, subhumid and others. Salinization worsens the soil structure, which leads to a decrease in water infiltration, which is the seepage of water into the soil and groundwater through special rocks, and air penetration into the soil profile. Every year, a large amount of land is degraded due to primary or secondary salinization of soils, as a result of which it becomes a major economic problem and there is a need to take care of the environment.

Ultrasonic characterization on fertilizer solutions in view to sustainable agriculture

The volumetric and sound parameters are very helpful tools to predict the different kinds of intermolecular interactions and their strengths associated with them. It is revealed that the soil salinity problem incessantly spreads due to continuous changes in climate, excessive use of groundwater, and bulk use of low-quality water for irrigation. Excessive soil salinity reduces the many agricultural crop production, which is particularly sensitive throughout the development and growth of the plant. The effect of salinity could be controlled or counteracted by the application of suitable fertilizers into the saline soils. In this manuscript, numerous acoustic as well as thermodynamic parameters of ammonium sulphate (AS) fertilizer of different weight fractions at 293.15 K temperature have been studied. The results obtained, from calculated different acoustic and volumetric parameters expose the existence of strong interactions in the system taken for investigation, this depends on the ilk of molecules. The fertilizer: ammonium sulphate shows, maximum molecular interactions at higher concentrations in all the solvents (Water, Sodium Chloride, and Magnesium Chloride), and this can again castoff in view as a remedy for soil salinity using interactions among saline salts and fertilizers.

Review of Soil Salinity and Sodicity Challenges to Crop Production in the Lowland Irrigated Areas of Ethiopia and Its Management Strategies

Ethiopia’s irrigated agriculture productivity has been threatened by severe salinity and sodicity problems which have resulted in significantly lower yields, food insecurity, and environmental degradation. The destructive effects of poor irrigation water management with the absence of drainage and anticipated future climate changes can accelerate the formation of salt-affected soil, potentially expanding the problem to currently unaffected regions. This paper synthesizes the available information on the causes, extent, and effects of salt-affected soils on soil and crop production and suggest chemical, biological, and physical reclamation and management approaches for tackling salinity and sodicity problems. The mitigation approaches (e.g., the addition of amendments, plantation of salt-tolerant crops, appropriate irrigation and drainage management, phytoremediation, and bioremediation) have successfully tackled soil salinity and sodicity problems in many parts of the world. These approaches have further improved the socioeconomic conditions of farming communities in salt-affected areas. The paper also discusses the effectiveness of these mitigation strategies under Ethiopian conditions. The policy interventions for reclamation of soil salinity and sodicity that indicates future research attention to restoring agricultural sustainability are also foci of this paper.

Whether canal command irrigation through pressurized irrigation system deteriorates soil properties in hot arid ecosystem of India?

Introduction of canal irrigation in arid zones may result into secondary salinization. However, adoption of judicious use of irrigation water through pressurized irrigation network may avoid the problem of soil salinity. In this study, soil properties in canal command area of Narmada Canal Project (NCP) in Rajasthan India having 2.46 lakh ha command area with pressurized irrigation network were assessed through field sampling followed by laboratory analysis. Soil physicochemical properties [pH, soil organic carbon content (SOC) and electrical conductivity (EC)] and soil chemical properties (contents of N, P, K, Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn) were determined for 200 soil samples collected from topsoil (0–15 cm) covering both irrigated and rainfed land use and three NCP command zones (lift area, flow area and ‘ned’ area). Principal component analysis (PCA) reduced the dimension of data to four major principal components (PCs). Few of these PCs were found to vary significantly across land use categories and NCP command zones. K-means clustering of observations showed that it can be segregated to either two or three clusters, however clustering efficiency was not good. Most of the observations lied in a single cluster indicating that all soil properties are almost similar to each other. Most of the extreme observations belonged to irrigated land use indicating that irrigation in few pocketed areas have been leading to deterioration of soil properties but can be managed through proper canal lining and excluding saline groundwater as a source of irrigation.