World salinization with emphasis on Australia
Open accessAbstract
Salinization is the accumulation of water-soluble salts in the soil solum or regolith to a level that impacts on agricultural production, environmental health, and economic welfare. Salt-affected soils occur in more than 100 countries of the world with a variety of extents, nature, and properties. No climatic zone in the world is free from salinization, although the general perception is focused on arid and semi-arid regions. Salinization is a complex process involving the movement of salts and water in soils during seasonal cycles and interactions with groundwater. While rainfall, aeolian deposits, mineral weathering, and stored salts are the sources of salts, surface and groundwaters can redistribute the accumulated salts and may also provide additional sources. Sodium salts dominate in many saline soils of the world, but salts of other cations such as calcium, magnesium, and iron are also found in specific locations. Different types of salinization with a prevalence of sodium salts affect about 30% of the land area in Australia. While more attention is given to groundwater-associated salinity and irrigation salinity, which affects about 16% of the agricultural area, recent investigations suggest that 67% of the agricultural area has a potential for "transient salinity", a type of non-groundwater-associated salinity. Agricultural soils in Australia, being predominantly sodic, accumulate salts under seasonal fluctuations and have multiple subsoil constraints such as alkalinity, acidity, sodicity, and toxic ions. This paper examines soil processes that dictate the exact edaphic environment upon which root functions depend and can help in research on plant improvement.
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Salinity can indirectly affect plants by making them more vulnerable to plant diseases, reducing crop output and quality, decreasing biodiversity, and disrupting soil ecosystems.
“It can also indirectly affect them by making them more vulnerable to plant diseases7, reducing crop output and quality8, decreasing biodiversity9, and disrupting soil ecosystems8.”
From Cold plasma technology as a pre-treatment for seed priming enhances germination and reduces salinity stress in Prosopis Koelziana (2025) · cites this paper as [8]
Citation 8 is attached to the claims about crop output and quality and soil ecosystems, not to the separate disease and biodiversity claims. The Introduction and “Soil processes affecting salinity effects on plants” sections support reduced crop production, but the passages do not establish reduced crop quality or disruption of soil ecosystems. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSalinity is a constraint in many of the major barley production countries including Australia, Spain, Turkey, Argentina, the USA, and Canada.
“Salinity is a constraint in many of the major barley production countries including Australia, Spain, Turkey, Argentina, the USA, and Canada (Huffman et al., 2000;Houk et al., 2006;Rengasamy, 2006;Acosta et al., 2011;Gorji et al., 2017;Zaman et al., 2018;Taleisnik and Lavado, 2021).”
From Genetic resources and precise gene editing for targeted improvement of barley abiotic stress tolerance (2023) · cites this paper as Rengasamy, 2006
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Flagged first, then by citations
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Sorted by citations
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“Salinity is a constraint in many of the major barley production countries including Australia, Spain, Turkey, Argentina, the USA, and Canada (Huffman et al., 2000; Houk et al., 2006; Rengasamy, 2006; Acosta et al., 2011; Gorji et al., 2017; Zaman et al., 2018; Taleisnik and Lavado, 2021).”
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- Authors
- Rengasamy, P.
- Affiliations
- The University of Adelaide (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Rengasamy, Pichu
- ORCID
- Rengasamy, Pichu
- Venue
- Journal of Experimental Botany
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2006-03-01
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1017-1023
- ISSN
- 0022-0957 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2431
- OpenAlex
- W2147804965
- Cited by
- 1,686
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 105 · 2025: 116 · 2024: 98 · 2023: 134 · 2022: 112 · 2021: 134 · 2020: 139 · 2019: 129 · 2018: 105 · 2017: 90 · 2016: 81 · 2015: 80 · 2014: 68 · 2013: 70 · 2012: 56
- FWCI
- 40.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Experimental Botany (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Grains Research and Development Corporation
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Aquatic Science › Engineering and Agricultural Innovations
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Irrigation Practices and Water Management
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Management and Crop Yield
- Keywords
- soil salinization, salt-affected soils, sodium salts, sodic soils, irrigation salinity, sodicity, soil alkalinity, plant salt stress, root function, Australian agriculture
- MeSH terms
- Australia, Models, Biological, Plants, Rain, Salts, Seasons, Soil, Soil Pollutants, Crops, Agricultural, Plant Development
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