How does soil salinization work?

Question

How would it affect crop producticity?

Answer 1

Salinization is just the salts accumulating in the soil. They can come from the groundwater up when the groundwater has a lot of excess salt where it will become concentrated. It is natural in some places where water from rain have not removed them. It can also come from too much agricultural fertilizers and harsh water that remains behind in the residue. It is found a lot also in marsh areas that are drained leaving behind a lot of natural salts in the surrounding soil. All this high positive and negative particles, as salts, pull water from plants, desiccating them by unbalancing the plant salts to the environmental salts.

Answer 2

Wish Again,

If I understand your question correctly you are asking about excess salt leaching into the soil, Such as Katrina coming ashore in the south with huge waves of salt water?

Excess salt in the soil will sterilize the soil. Plants require a balanced Ph. to grow.  There is some salt in soil, along with several other elements, but the soil can not be so saturated with any one element it kills the ability of plants to live and thrive.

Same would be true if it was nitrogen which is needed for growth,, too much nitrogen and the soil will become as sterile as using a soil sterilent.

Salt can be removed by “washing” the soil with fresh water but it would take a long time, depending on the soil loading of salt.

Answer 3

Salts accumulated in lower layers of soil are pushed upward when groundwater rises. When soil is waterlogged, the water evaporates leaving behind the salts it brought upward with it. That is why salinity and water-logging are known as twin menace.

It affects crop productivity as all crops are not salt tolerant.