Saline Agriculture: A Promising Approach to Global Farming Challenges

"While too much salt in soil can be damaging to crops, there is a solution: saline agriculture. While this salt naturally occurs in soils, too much is a huge problem that can reduce yields to 20 to 50% of their potential output. Improper irrigation, climate change, and existing environmental conditions all contribute to this issue. The resulting effect of salinity occurs at all growth stages, from seed to mature plants."

"What Is Saline Agriculture? Along with what's called biosaline farming, this method is particularly suited to arid climates and regions that lie along ocean coasts. It works in areas with high soil salinity, increased groundwater salinity, or both. The goal is to utilize salted irrigation water to remediate soils, cultivate salt-tolerant plants, and grow healthy crops. One or a combination of these strategies serves to assist areas where salinity is an issue, whether it be in the ground or due to increased drought or flooding."

"Numerous organizations across the world have partnered and collaborated on this issue, as it's projected that by 2050, this method will be at the forefront of climate mitigation techniques. Methods Salinized and brackish water has been harnessed recently as a viable means to produce crops. By irrigating at specific growth stages (depending upon the plants) with salty water, soil salinity doesn't increase as long as the salt is leached out of the soil in future seasons."

Saline agriculture adapts farming in arid and coastal regions by using salt-tolerant crops, saline or brackish irrigation, and soil remediation to maintain production. Excess soil salinity reduces yields 20 to 50 percent across growth stages by limiting nutrient uptake, especially phosphorus, and causing oxidative stress that impairs photosynthesis. Causes include improper irrigation, climate change, drought, and flooding that increase groundwater and soil salinity. Practices include timed irrigation with brackish water and seasonal leaching to prevent salt buildup. Global collaborations project saline agriculture as a prominent climate mitigation approach by 2050.

Read at Modern Farmer