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Improving Crop Production on Salt-affected Soils: by Breeding or Management?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2008

R. A. Richards
Affiliation:
Division of Plant Industry, CSIRO, PO Box 1600, Canberra, Australia, 2601

Summary

The area of salt-affected land is increasing because of irrigation practices and changed land use. Breeding crops that tolerate soil salinity and yield well in salt-affected soils, and employing crop management practices to counter salinity, have been proposed to maintain crop productivity. Here, it is argued that neither breeding nor management will adequately counter the effects of salinity. Although both offer the potential to maintain yields for a brief period, it is inevitable that salinity will continue to increase and crop productivity will decline. Only the establishment of a perennial vegetation that will maintain evapotranspiration at high levels all year round on both salt-affected land and recharge areas will halt the increase in salinization.

Mejorar la producción en los suelos afectados por la sal

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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