Nutrient Management in Salt Affected Soil of Uttar Pradesh

1. Nutrient Management in Salt Affected
Soil of Uttar Pradesh
Presented by-
Himanshu Pandey
M.Sc. Ag 1st Year
22412SAC007
hhimaanshu1@gmail.com

2. INTRODUCTION
What is SOIL?
• Soil is the loose surface material that covers most land. It consists of inorganic particles and
organic matter.
• Soil provides the structural support to plants used in agriculture and is also their source of
water and nutrients
What is SALT Affected SOIL mean?
• Soils of arid and semi-arid regions contain excessive concentration of either soluble salts or
exchangeable sodium or both due to inadequate leaching of base forming cations.
• The pH is usually 7 or above with exchangeable complex dominated by calcium and
magnesium ions.
• Irrigated soils in low rainfall regions also develop soil salinity and alkalinity due to
accumulation of salts in surface layers through evaporating water.

3. Cause of development of SALT Affected SOIL
• Salinity is of two types, primary and secondary depending upon the source of salt.
• The former occurs due to natural deposits of salt whereas the later is caused
mainly due to anthropogenic factors.
• Primary salinisation occurs due to weathering of rocks, capillary rise from shallow
groundwater (for example- Sharda Shayak Canal Lucknow Uttar Pradesh), intrusion
of sea water along the coast, salt laden sand blow by sea wind etc.
• Reason of secondary salinisation are: poor quality irrigation water, industrial
influents, overuse of basic fertilizers, flooding with salt rich water and improper
planning of developmental work.

4. Distribution
1. In India, 6.73 million hectares
(Mha) of area has been
characterized as salt-affected
by ICAR-Central Soil Salinity
Research Institute (CSSRI),
out of which 3.77 M ha is
alkali and the remaining 2.96
M ha is saline, threatening the
livelihood security of farming
community.
2. Distribution of the alkali-
affected area among different
states reveals that it is a
serious problem across 11
states in India.

5. State-wise extent and distribution of salt
affected soils in India

6. UTTAR PRADESH
• Uttar Pradesh, having the largest alkali
area of 1.35 Mha, accounts for 35.75%
of the total alkali-affected area followed
by Gujarat (14.36%), Maharashtra
(11.21%), Tamil Nadu (9.41%), Haryana
(4.86%) and Punjab (4.02%)

7. Management
• The dominance of carbonate equilibria in sodic soils results in deficiency of
available calcium despite the presence of calcite in the soil.
• The plants grown in alkali soils suffer more often due to lack of calcium than due
to toxicity of excess sodium.
• Gypsum and Organic manures generally supply adequate levels of calcium apart
from lowering pH of the soils that further increases the availability of calcium as
well as their nutrients in the soil.

8. Cont..
• Boron deficiency is not expected, rather its toxicity can be an issue with increase
in salinity and alkalinity of the soil.
• Application of gypsum generally takes care of its toxicity by converting highly
soluble sodium meta-borate to insoluble Ca meta-borate.
• Salinity is also known to reduce B toxicity due to application of B rich irrigation
water.

9. Reclamation (Suggested by LUCKNOW RRS)
Flushing technique for reclamation
• Saline sodic land dominated with Carbonate and Bicarbonate salt of Na in
Indo_Gangetic land. The technology involves application of gypsum preceded by 2
horizontal surface flushing of soluble basic salts.
Management of water logged sodic soils
• About 0.35 million ha sodic lands suffer from shallow water table conditions in
Sarda Sahayak Canal Command and are not suitable for cultivation even after
conventional method of gypsum based reclamation.
• A model of 1 ha comprising of 0.40 ha fish pond up to 1.75 m depth, 0.2 ha cereal
crop, 0.15 ha fruit crop, 0.10 ha for vegetable and 0.10 ha for forage crops. The
excavated soil was spread over the 0.6 ha land so that field can be raised at least
2m from the water table. Through intervention of above land modification
technique the productivity of the land and water increased many folds.