Essay On Soil Salinity

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1.1 SOIL SALINITY Soil salinity is defined as the presence of the major dissolved inorganic solutes in the soil liquid phase. It contains soluble and readily soluble salts, some charged species (e.g., Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Cl-, HCO3-, NO3-, SO42-, and CO32−), non-ionic solutes and ions that make ion pairs (Corwin, 2005). The primary source of these salts in soil and water is the physical and geochemical weathering such as hydrolysis, hydration, dissolution, oxidation, and carbonation of rocks of the earth’s upper layer and atmospheric deposition. These small amount of rocks and other deposits are dissolved into the water and carried away by water which cause salt accumulation into both ground and surface water. The anthropogenic activities serving as the secondary sources for soil salinity. (Corwin, 2005). The another source of these salts is from the irrigated soil. Most of the irrigation water having some amount of salts. After irrigation, water is used by the crops and remaining …show more content…

This type of soil contains higher amounts of carbonate and bicarbonate. This soil type has also been known as “Alkaline sodic soil”. Excessive amounts of carbonate and bicarbonate salts may be brought into soil with groundwater by capillary effect or by irrigation water (Fujiyama and Magara,). World wide, the total amount of saline soils is around 15% in arid and semi-arid regions and approximately 40% in irrigated lands.

Effect Of Soil Salinity On Plants :

The growth of plant is inhibited by the salt when the salt concentration is high then the salt tolerant of plants and in the region of root soil. The soil salinity affects negatively on the growth, physiology and yield of crops. Soil salinity causes plant stress in two ways:

(1) Making water uptake by the roots more difficult, and (2) Causing plant toxicity via accumulation of high salt concentrations in the

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