ABSTRACT
Soils with salt concentration in excess of 4 dS m1 are termed saline or salt-affected, according to the U.S. Salinity Staff Laboratory (Richards, 1954). Being a severe environmental hazard, soil salinity affects crop yield and agricultural production. Globally, salt-affected soils comprise 19% of the 2.8 billion ha of arable land (Szabolcs, 1989). In India alone, estimates of 7.1 million ha (Abrol and Bhumbla, 1971) and 6.73 million ha (Anonymous, 2007) were reported to be affected by salinity and alkalinity processes. Such soils are generally not only encountered in the arid and semiarid climate but also occur extensively in subhumid and coastal zones. Some of the most
unfavorable properties of salt-affected soils are high salt content, poor structure, limited microbial activity, low percolation rates, and other characteristics that restrict plant growth.
