Soil Fertility and Nutrient management (1+1)

How to diagnose salinity problems in the field?

• In the field, saline soils can be identified by:

  • Presence of white crust layer of salts on the surface of soils in a dry region. It is a mixture of NaCl and Na2SO4 salts.
  • Good physical conditions and high permeability of soil.
  • Natural vegetation consisting of mainly small bushes and some halophytes such as Cressa cretica, Cyperus rotudus, Chloris gayana etc.
  • In cultivated fields patchy and stunted growth of crops
  • Wilting sign due to water stress in plants even when the soil apparently contains enough water due to plasmolysis
  • A thin soil crust that may prevent emergence of seedlings of sensitive crops.