Advances in agricultural practices for attenuating salt stress under saline water irrigation

The shortage of freshwater resources has been a growing global concern. The?use?of?saline?groundwater and brackish water?is an?important way of solving water?shortage?in irrigated?farmlands around the globe.?Saline water and brackish water could partly replace freshwater in irrigated agriculture, but saline water or brackish water irrigation results in the accumulation of salts in surface soil and in the reduction of crop yield. This has been a significant research issue associated with water shortage and agricultural production in recent decades. In this study, measures developed to mitigate secondary salinization due to saline water irrigation were summarized. The measures included improving cultivation practices, biological practices and engineering designs that ameliorated soil salt stress under brackish water or saline water irrigation. The paper highlighted relevant current literatures and introduced detailed optimization agricultural cultivation manages, including the development of reasonable irrigation methods, mulching and subsoiling. There were also soil amendments with organic matter including crop residues, farm manure, green manure, gypsum, zeolite, etc. There was inoculation with plant growth promoting rhizobacteria, planting halophytes or salt-tolerance crop species, etc. All these measures were efficient in mitigating soil salt stress under saline water irrigation. In saline water and brackish water irrigation, the combination of rainfall with irrigation improved soil buffer capacity to salinity. Also planting salt tolerant crop cultivars and using biological fertilizers and soil conditioners could decrease soil salinity. Ridging and plastic mulching reduced evaporation loss while concurrently decreasing salt concentration in surface soil. Straw return to soil and deep tillage improved soil nutrient condition, water holding capacity and salt leaching. The integration of safe and efficient mode of saline water and brackish water irrigation, the designing of standard technology and application procedure, and the combination of various organic substances were all ameliorative?measures. Field soil salt stress under saline water and brackish water irrigation was efficiently controllable. The effective, safe and sustainable use of brackish and saline water was achievable in improving?water availability for agricultural production.