Soil Salinity Management in Fruit Crops: A Review of Options and Challenges

Abstract

Salinity is a severe impediment to the sustainable management of over 800 M ha arable land area globally; especially in irrigated arid and semiarid regions. Unsound on-farm irrigation management is the major driver of secondary salinization in irrigated lands where even proven salinity management technologies fail to deliver the expected dividends. Salinity and associated problems like waterlogging alter cell physiology and metabolism in ways that greatly reduce plant growth and economic yields. About two-thirds of the fruit crops grown commercially in world are categorized as salt sensitive. Despite their high sensitivity to salt-induced soil perturbations, fruit crops perform well in salt-affected soils when grown with the aid of improved management practices. The information presented in this chapter leads to the conclusion that agronomic interventions such as selection of salt tolerant scion and rootstock cultivars, refined planting techniques, balanced nutrition, and drip irrigation can be of considerable help in commercial fruit cultivation in salt-affected lands otherwise considered to be unsuitable for high-value crops.