Publisher's Synopsis
Volume 1 : Biosaline agriculture is a relatively new way of dealing with salinity in agriculture. It develops cropping systems for saline environments, using the capacity of certain plants to grow under saline conditions in combination with the use of saline soil- and water-resources and improved soil and water management. As salinity is influencing our environments more and more, there is un-urgency in developing cropping systems that can produce in saline conditions. The species used by biosaline agriculture are salt tolerant plants - which support higher salinity levels of soil and water - and halophytes which even produce better under saline circumstances.The purpose of this monograph is to bring forth and discuss the problems related to the use of biosalinity. It has been envisaged that the problems posed in this book will induce the research workers to make further investigation. Volume 2 : People now use about half of the global supply of fresh water, and good fresh water is becoming an expensive resource. About 1 percent of water on earth is fresh while another 1 percent is brackish (water that has more salt than fresh water, but not as much as seawater), while 98 percent is sea water. Agriculture not only has to compete for limited fresh water resources with home and industrial use; it is being threatened by the spread of soil salinization. Irrigation of food and feed crops contributes to salinization. High rates of evaporation and transpiration lead to salt accumulation in the root zones as salts are drawn from the deep layers of the soil. Global warming also accelerates salinization as sea level rises and floods coastal regions. Soil salinization is irreversible in arid regions because water is not available to leach the accumulated salts out of the soil. As salinity increases, crop yields decline, because most existing crop plants are not salt-tolerant. To cope with the shortage of fresh water and increasing salinization of agricultural land, there has been renewed interest in saline agriculture: cultivating crops that are salt-tolerant, so they can grow in brackish water and sea water.The nature and properties of salt affected soils, groundwater and principles for amelioration and management of these critical problems have been included in this book.Volume 3 : Saline land is a resource capable of significant production. Recent advances in research in breeding for salt tolerance in wheat, biotechnology in rice, and selection and rehabilitation of salt-tolerant plants are of economic importance in arid/saline conditions. Working with salinity demands more technical know how from the farmer, however this can be trained and learned. More complicated is the social organisation that is necessary for salinity management in saline environments, comparable in some ways to Dutch polder-systems. Salinity management often also means costs: investments in infrastructure and maintenance energy costs for drainage and irrigation. Solutions can be found in advanced technologies and cooperative social structures.
