Economic Utilization of Salt-Affected Wasteland for Plant Production

Abstract

The present world population is over 7.7 billion and is growing by the minute. The need to fulfill demands for food, animal fodder, and industrial raw materials is one of the biggest challenges of this century, as is the increase in global pollution. As limited land and water resources are available, strategies are required to use these resources very carefully. More than 1 billion hectares of land worldwide are salt affected and barren. These lands are poor in fertility and unfit for conventional agricultural crop production. Irrigation without proper drainage arrangements causes waterlogging and secondary salinization. The scientific literature indicates that the groundwater of saline lands is brackish and injurious for plant production. To utilize salt-affected wasteland under a sustainable productive system by using brackish groundwater, the Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB) in Faisalabad, Pakistan, has developed "biosaline agriculture technology" for economic utilization of salt-affected wasteland and brackish groundwater for self-sustaining plant production. This chapter describes how salt-affected wasteland can be reclaimed by use of salt-tolerant plants (halophytes) of high economic value. This technology has been demonstrated at the NIAB's Biosaline Research Station located near the village of Pakka Anna in a rural area 50 km away from Faisalabad. At the station, saline agroforestry, cultivation of forage grasses as fodder for grazing animals, fruit trees, medicinal plants and other nonconventional crops, fish aquaculture technology, honeybee culture, charcoal production from waste wood, extraction of essential oil from Eucalyptus, etc. are demonstrated. All of these technologies are discussed briefly in this chapter.

Potential of Halophytes as Sustainable Fodder Production by Using Saline Resources: A Review of Current Knowledge and Future Directions

“…S. bigelovii forage effects positively the growth of goat kids and milk production. El-Shaer, [26] reported that sheep lost 26 g day −1 in spring season as compared to summer season (134 g day −1 ). Although pasture reached its best condition, ruminants were incapable of keeping their weights.…”

Potential use of saline resources for biofuel production using halophytes and marine algae: prospects and pitfalls

“…Using plants has particular potential especially in areas where large populations of diverse halophytic species already grow and can be cultivated using saline water for irrigation without using existing arable lands or clearing forests to open new lands (Xu et al, 2020b). By providing a cover on barren lands, halophytes can reduce soil erosion and reduce greenhouse gases by Csequestration; some halophytes are potential sources of oil seeds (Abideen et al, 2015b); others have value in medicines and various other purposes (see Figure 4) (Abideen et al, 2012;Abideen et al, 2014b;Yasin Ashraf et al, 2020). Many perennial halophytic grasses produce enough lignocellulosic biomass under saline conditions to warrant conversion into biofuel (Munir et al, 2021).…”

Copper Oxide Nanoparticles Induced Growth and Physio-Biochemical Changes in Maize (Zea mays L.) in Saline Soil

“…Salinity is the most common abiotic stress in arid and semi-arid areas of the world [ 1 ]. Across the globe, 800 million hectares of land are saline [ 2 , 3 ], while in Pakistan, almost 6.8 million hectares are negatively affected by salts [ 4 ]. Salinity adversely affects the morpho-physiological attributes of plants, consequently reducing their yield [ 5 ].…”