On-Site Salinity Management

While soils with elevated levels of salt need a revamp to get them back to productivity, those with low to moderate salts may be used for field crop production if farm management ensures salinity control with minimum ecological impacts. Crop, soil, and irrigation management can manage low levels of salts in the root zone to get desired crop germination and growth. On-farm irrigation management strategies such as furrow and sprinkler systems and specific modification of the soil profile via deep plowing, subsoiling, and mulching of furrows are proven interventions to enhance water infiltration rate and reduce evaporation losses. On-farm management approaches are crucial for boosting seed germination, crop establishment, and yield in soils with low to moderate levels of salts. The same applies to moderate levels of salts in irrigation water as saline waters can be used for irrigation through cyclic, blending, and sequential strategies in support of sustainably increasing food and feed production and renewable energy generation. These irrigation strategies are applied worldwide to manage water resources in zones with scarce freshwater resources and insufficient rainfall, thereby making use of available saline water resources to meet crop water needs while bridging the water demand–supply gap.