Prosopis juliflora: a tree for rehabilitating salt affected soils

Abstract

The earth is experiencing a faster change in climate in the 21st century than it had in the past. Abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity, exacerbated by the fast changing climatic conditions pose a major hurdle in sustaining crop productivity. High salt concentration in the soil is a serious problem in vast areas of otherwise productive agricultural lands in India. Establishment of salt tolerant vegetation could be an effective way of ameliorating this problem. Prosopis juliflora has a lot of potential for rehabilitating and management of salt affected soils. Being a source of fuel, small timber wood and in some cases used as dry season fodder, Prosopis is playing a vital role in sustaining the livelihoods of the rural poor, society with disadvantaged resources including the landless labourers, small farmers and artisans in dry regions.