Salinity impacts on the environment

Salinity is an issue that is rapidly gaining global attention as it dramatically reduces the productive capacity of significant land areas. Research in this area has focused on salinity assessments including salt sources, and the potential for judicious fertiliser application to enable plants to cope better with salinity impacts (Cho-ruk and Morrison, 2004; Cho-ruk et al, 2004). The presence of salt influences the charge carried on soil/sediment particle surfaces, and thus the response of soils to changes in the soil solution environment as noted in the section above. In addition, the presence of salt can have impacts on the measurements of relevant soil, plant and water composition, and this is another area of current research interest.

References

K. Cho-ruk and R.M. Morrison. 2004. Soil phosphorus adsorption and salinity influence. Malaysian J. Soil Sci., 8, 1-11.

K. Cho-ruk, R.J. Morrison and R. Lawrie. 2004. Effect of salinity on the growth of ryegrass: Optimal phosphorus application in sand pot experiments. Presented at the 4^th International Crop Science Congress, Brisbane.

Last reviewed: 8 August, 2008