Soil salinity

Salination can be caused by natural processes such as mineral weathering or by the gradual withdrawal of an ocean.

Human practices can increase the salinity of soils by the addition of salts in irrigation water.

After the construction, the continuous high level of the water table led to the salination of arable land.

Sodic soils present particular challenges because they tend to have very poor structure which limits or prevents water infiltration and drainage.

They tend to accumulate certain elements like boron and molybdenum in the root zone at levels that may be toxic for plants.

[2] The most common compound used for reclamation of sodic soil is gypsum, and some plants that are tolerant to salt and ion toxicity may present strategies for improvement.

This occurs when groundwater is saline (which is true in many areas), and is favored by land use practices allowing more rainwater to enter the aquifer than it could accommodate.

[7][8] A comprehensive treatment of soil salinity is available from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

It has been shown to ameliorate the negative effects that salinity has such as reduced water usage of plants.

[18] These genes initiate the production of plant stress enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, L-ascorbate oxidase, and Delta 1 DNA polymerase.