Guideline for Salinity Assessment, Mitigation and Adaptation Using Nuclear and Related Techniques

Front matter

Mohammad Zaman : Shabbir A. Shahid Lee Heng

Guideline for Salinity Assessment, Mitigation and Adaptation Using Nuclear and Related Techniques meer ere A Springer Open

Guideline for Salinity Assessment, Mitigation and Adaptation Using Nuclear and Related Techniques

Foreword

Soil salinity is a major global issue owing to its adverse impact on agricultural productivity and sustainability. Salinity problems occur under all climatic conditions and can result from both natural and human-induced actions. Generally speaking, saline soils occur in arid and semi-arid regions where rainfall is insufficient to meet the water requirements of the crops, and leach mineral salts out of the root-zone. The association between humans and salinity has existed for centuries and historical records show that many civilizations have failed due to increases in the salinity of agricultural fields, the most known example being Mesopotamia (now Iraq). Soil salinity undermines the resource base by decreasing soil quality and can occur due to natural causes or from misuse and mismanagement to an extent which jeopardizes the integrity of soil’s self-regulatory capacity.

Soil salinity is dynamic and spreading globally in over 100 countries; no continent is completely free from salinity. Soil salinization is projected to increase in future climate change scenarios due to sea level rise and impact on coastal areas, and the rise in temperature that will inevitably lead to increase evaporation and further salinization. There is a long list of countries where salt-induced land degradation occurs. Some well-known regions where salinization is extensively reported include the Aral Sea Basin (Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya River Basins) in Central Asia, the Indo-Gangetic Basin in India, the Indus Basin in Pakistan, the Yellow River Basin in China, the Euphrates Basin in Syria and Iraq, the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia, and the San Joaquin Valley in the United States.

The objective of this guideline is to develop protocols for salinity and sodicity assessment, and the role of isotopic nuclear and related techniques to develop mitigation and adaptation measures to use saline and sodic soils sustainably. We have focused on important issues related to salinity and sodicity and have described these in an easy and user friendly way. The information has been compiled from latest published literature and from authors’ publications specific to the subject matter. This guideline is an outcome of a joint publication between the Soil and Water Management & Crop Nutrition Section, Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),

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Foreword

Vienna, Austria, and a freelance senior salinity management expert based in the

United Arab Emirates.

We hope that this guideline will be an excellent contribution to the science and enhance the knowledge of those seeking information to assess and diagnose salinity problem at the landscape and farm levels and the role of nuclear and isotopic techniques in developing strategies to use these marginal soils sustainably.

Soil and Water Management & Crop Nutrition Section, Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture

Department of Nuclear

Sciences & Applications International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

Vienna, Austria

Senior Salinity Management Expert, Freelancer, Dubai, UAE

Soil and Water Management & Crop Nutrition Section, Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture

Department of Nuclear

Sciences & Applications International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

Vienna, Austria

Mohammad Zaman

Shabbir A. Shahid

Lee Heng

Acknowledgements

We are thankful to Prof. Pharis, R.P., Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Canada, and Dr. Shazia Zaman, University of Canterbury, for their critical review, feedback and editorial comments in the preparation of this book. We also thank Ms. Marlies Zaczek of the Soil and Water Management & Crop Nutrition Section, Joint FAO/IAEA Division, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria, for her help in formatting this document and Ms. Petra Nabil Salame, PMO of Asia and the Pacific Section 2, Division for Asia and the Pacific Department of Technical Cooperation for her financial support.

Contents

1 Introduction to Soil Salinity, Sodicity and Diagnostics Techniques. . . 1

LI- What ik Soil Salty? 2 oh ieee kas ee dee ee eee es 2

4) Dryland Soil Salinity so. cos..case.veacaseeecueress 10