Geotextile covering: Potential technique for farmland salinization control

Abstract

This paper investigated fabric coverings, exploring their ability to remove salt from saline soils. Soil columns filled with saline soil were saturated with saltwater, then covered with four kinds of fabric materials (nylon, cotton, geotextile [150 g m −2 ], and gauze). The soil columns were heated under infrared lights for 25 days. The microstructural characteristics of the fabric materials before and after the experiments, as well as the crystallization conditions on the soil surface, were examined using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results demonstrated that both hydrophilicity and structure of fabrics affect salt removal efficiency. Although salt quantity removed by geotextile (111.54 g m −2 ) was less than gauze (293.89 g m −2 ), geotextile showed greater potential on salt removal considering long-term evaporation. To further investigate the performance of geotextile material on salt removal, the experiment was repeated with commercially available geotextiles with areal densities of 200, 300, 400, and 500 g m −2 . The 500 g m −2 geotextile could remove 368.15 g m −2 of salt, much more than salt removed with geotextiles of density 150, 200, 300, and 400 g m −2 (111.54, 61.57, 102.05, and 102.34 g m −2 , respectively), which further proved that fabric structure had great influence on salt removal. These results demonstrated that geotextile covering with optimized fabric structure could be a promising and environmentally friendly technique for farmland salinization control.

Remote Sensing Data Fusion to Evaluate Patterns of Regional Evapotranspiration: A Case Study for Dynamics of Film-Mulched Drip-Irrigated Cotton in China’s Manas River Basin over 20 Years

“…Subsequently, higher cotton yields between 2400 and 2513 kg hm −2 were reported in the more recent years of 2012-2018, in spite of the fact that the corresponding (I + P)/TET p was at even lower levels due to the shortage of water supply [38]. It should be noted that the contribution to yield enhancement may also originate from agricultural scientific and technological progress, such as the breeding and application of drought-resistant and salt-tolerant varieties, advances in agronomy, and mechanization [39]. Nevertheless, the dynamics of root-zone salinity of CFFMDI in the MRB and its impact on crop water demand, consumption, and yield are beyond the scope of this study and require further research.…”

“…Traditional salt removal measures of water conservancy projects, such as drainage ditches, subsurface pipes, and wells, utilize a large amount of water resources for leaching, which may often impede their wide application in an arid oasis such as the MRB. Therefore, it is necessary to further explore root-zone salt removal measures with low fresh-water consumption and high salt-drainage efficiency, e.g., biological reclamations [43], salt removal by fabric coverings [39], or even irrigation with water extremely low in salts made possible by desalination [40,42,44]. (3) Strengthen the research on water-saving mechanisms and technologies to understand the ET dynamics of crops and reduce extravagant water consumption.…”