THE SALT PROBLEM IN SOIL: AN OVERVIEW

Abstract

One of the most serious problems for the agriculture in many countries of the world is represented by the presence of excessive amounts of soluble salts in the soil.  Soil salinisation has been identified as a major process of land degradation, and the main cause of land desertification, particularly in arid or semi-arid areas. This phenomenon is mainly due to artificial irrigation with waters of inadapted quality in the absence of adequate drainage systems, especially in arid or semi-arid regions. It was estimated from various available data that the world is losing at least three hectares of productive land every minute because of increasing soil salinity (Abrol et al., 1988). The social and economic repercussions of soil salinisation impact severely impact the populations of arid and semi-arid regions. It is in fact the population of developing countries that is hardest hit by the consequences of this phenomenon.