ABSTRACT
Salt-affected soils, defined as soils on which the growth of most crop plants is limited by an excess of easily soluble salts, cover about 1 billion hectares globally. In sodic soils, the high sodium content relative to other cations is the main factor affecting plant growth. There is a continuum of plant responses to the continuous increase of salt stress with increasing salt or sodium concentrations in the soil. Saline and sodic conditions, although very different, are often both implicated in adversely affecting plant performance so that terms such as salinity, saline, and salinization are generically referred to soil conditions and processes leading to salt and sodium stresses on plants. Leaching salt out of the root zone, use of soil amendments and choice of salt-tolerant crop (halomorphic plants) can improve agronomic yield.
