Cracking the code on salinization
Salinization, or the increase of salt concentration in soil, has become a major agricultural challenge fueled by climate change and poor irrigation practices. In many regions, salinization turns fertile farms into non-arable land. The United Nations University found that since the 1990s, about 5,000 acres have been lost daily due to salinization (as of 2014).
Hold the salt, please.
Some major side effects of salty soil are:
- Reduced plant water absorption even with sufficient soil moisture.
- Altered nutrient interaction reduces the availability of vital elements such as nitrogen.
- Ion toxicity, resulting in “leaf burn”
- Reduced soil water absorption induces soil erosion and flood risk.
Crops cannot survive in these conditions and face similar developmental difficulties to drought stress, including stunted growth and halted plant reproduction.
The proliferation of salt-affected soils has been linked to rising sea levels, drought, poor irrigation practices, and improper fertilizer and pesticide usage. As vast agricultural areas are lost each day, we must ask ourselves: how will we grow the food needed to sustain the global population?
Unfortunately, we don’t have the power to stop droughts or rising sea levels in the near future, but there are some things that we can do to ensure global food security.
Irrigation: friend or foe?
A large portion of water applied with conventional irrigation methods does not reach plants. Instead, gravity pulls water down, descending to lower soil layers where it often leaks into groundwater reserves. As groundwater levels rise, salt content in the plant root zone increases. The water that remains in the upper layer of soil is either used by plants or evaporated, leaving behind additional salt residue that damages plant development and soil structure.
In wet climates, rainfall flushes away accumulated salts. For arid or semi-arid regions, irrigation can be a powerful tool to replicate this effect. Farmers looking to combat soil salinity may try to implement the irrigation method that best matches their crop and soil type, but this can be complex and inconclusive.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a soil-adaptive solution that worked for any crop or farm? Keep reading.
Cracking the code on salinization
There are two main factors to consider when managing your farm’s salinity levels:
#1 Use irrigation to optimize soil!
At Agrinoze, we recognize that irrigation is the single most important factor in food production. It doesn’t matter if your objective is to conserve resources, increase production, or develop your farm’s sustainability — irrigation optimization will always lead, albeit indirectly, to better soil health.
Agrinoze precision irrigation maintains optimal soil saturation that creates horizontal rather than vertical water movement, avoiding the effects of gravity and the resulting salinization. This enables Agrinoze-powered farms to grow on salt-effected land since there is no risk of additional salinization, as is almost always the case with conventional irrigation methods.
#2 Don’t over-fertigate!
To further increase efficiency, farmers should also implement smart fertigation practices. The overuse of chemicals increases salinization, pollution, and unnecessary farm expenses. Agrinoze analyzes soil conditions and executes precise commands that dissolve pre-existing nutrients in the soil, making them accessible to plants. This drastically reduces the need for fertilizer application and the risk of salinization. The system will fertigate when necessary, but the carefully calculated dosage will be absorbed by plants in its entirety, which means no wasted resources and no run-off pollution.
Agrinoze end-to-end irrigation and fertigation manages farms through real-time analysis of soil sensor data and autonomous execution of precise commands to maintain the optimal soil environment and generate both short and long-term farm productivity. The solution is adaptive to any crop and soil, taking the guesswork out of soil health
