Abstract
Excessive concentration of soluble salts in soils adversely affects agricultural lands and crops and subsequently the livelihood of people all around the world. More than 100 countries are facing the problem of soil salinity along with salinization of groundwater. Irrigation of agricultural crops with saline water indeed increases the concentration of soluble salts in soil, thereby reducing the productivity of crop plants. Excessive salts primarily disrupt the cellular osmotic balance by lowering the water potential inside cells. The salts like chlorides and sulphates of sodium, calcium and magnesium along with sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate prevailed in saline soils negatively affect plant growth and productivity as they change the osmotic balance between plant roots and soil and interfere with physiological and metabolic processes of plant. Several techniques have been developed for the reclamation and management of saline and sodic soils, which involve changes in the farming system irrigation, cropping pattern and use of salt-resistant varieties as well. The efficient and balanced use of fertilizers or more likely the utilization of biofertilizers could be a better option which can serve as a cost-effective technique for resource conservation. This chapter provides brief description of salinity and its causes, global status and effects of salinity on plant growth and productivity, environment and the economy of salt-affected areas. Indeed various techniques are in practice, and there is an urgent need of more site-specific studies for the development of strategies to reclaim saline soils. Under changing climatic conditions, this problem is predicted to increase further and may cover many more areas that necessitate to find out more realistic solutions of this problem. This chapter aims to draw attention of researchers to better understand reclamation and management technologies for sustainable solutions to curtailing the problem of salinization and efficient utilization of saline soils.
Keywords
- Salt-affected soils
- Saline soils
- Soil reclamation
- Soil salinity
- Salt stress
- Crop production
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Srivastava, P., Wu, QS., Giri, B. (2019). Salinity: An Overview. In: Giri, B., Varma, A. (eds) Microorganisms in Saline Environments: Strategies and Functions. Soil Biology, vol 56. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18975-4_1
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