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Soil Salination Indicators

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Environmental Indicators

Abstract

Soil salinity is one of the important soil properties that significantly affect agricultural production and environmental quality. A salinity indicator is a sign or symptom that suggests the soil is experiencing the impacts of salinity. Conventional chemical indicators of soil salinity include electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), while salt crystals and stains in surface soils are physical evidence of soil salinity. Indicator plant species have been commonly used in combination with physical and chemical indicators to determine soil salinity. The variation of environmental conditions may influence the behaviors of bioindicators. Therefore, it is important to determine the plant salt tolerance under similar environmental conditions when the tolerance range of plant species is used as an indication of soil salinity. This chapter discusses measurements of soil salinity, potential impacts of soil salinity on plant growth, and available soil salinity indicators, along with agricultural salinity management.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Sciences Program, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL, 62026, USA

    Zhi-Qing Lin

  2. San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Parlier, CA, 93648, USA

    Gary S. Bañuelos

Authors
  1. Zhi-Qing Lin
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  2. Gary S. Bañuelos
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Correspondence to Zhi-Qing Lin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Israel Institute of Technology Technion, Haifa, Israel

    Robert H. Armon

  2. Department of Physiology, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland

    Osmo Hänninen

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Lin, ZQ., Bañuelos, G.S. (2015). Soil Salination Indicators. In: Armon, R., Hänninen, O. (eds) Environmental Indicators. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9499-2_20

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