Salinity/high-salt soil is recognized as one of the most significant “limiting factors” in high-production agriculture today. While salt is a natural component of all soil, high concentrations of salt have been brought into our farm systems over the past 5-6 decades through applied fertilizer and in the irrigation water we use today. Most crop plants are sensitive to salinity, and the number of acres affected is increasing day by day.
Effects of Soil Salinity
Soil salinity leads to:
- Ion toxicity. Decreasing photosynthetic energy and chlorophyll concentrations which accelerates leaf senescence and leaf demise.
- Osmotic stress. This causes critical cell damage, nutrient deficiency, and oxidative stress which limits water uptake from soil.
Salinity affects almost all aspects of plant development including germination, vegetative growth, and
reproductive development. Diminished agricultural productivity means low economic returns this year. Without a change in cultural practices or input selections, this trend will continue. There is something farmers can do.
The fix includes both chemistry and biology:
Dissociation
Reassociation
Uptake & Exchange
A salt molecule has no energy and it lacks the exchange capacity to be metabolized. Biology plays an important role in making the molecule plant available.
The PCO take:
Elevated salt-indexed soils with diminished active SOM microbial populations and, by extension, lack the ability for appropriate colonization of the rhizospheres and phyllosphere of the crop. This creates a limiting factor on nitrogen fixation, phosphorus solubilization, bio-protective services, plant health, and resiliency. Ultimately, this “caps” potential revenue and ROI.
Working with broad-spectrum biological inoculation solutions paired with the appropriate bio-stimulants or chemical strategies are cost-effective tactics for managing and remediating sodium content in the soil. These tactics keep the ground productive and break through the glass ceiling of limitations to “uncap” potential revenue and ROI.
Farm Trial Observations - Soluble Salts
Over time the fertilizer used caused this salt layer/limiting factor in this operation. The use of BIOACTIVE LiquiLife+® broke the limiting factor apart.
In 5 short weeks, the limiting factor turned back into the beneficial input it was intended to be.
Scott Rygg's soil tests, the data below, highlight the reduction in sodium and soluble salts. This achievement was made in only 18 months on his farm!
Soluble Salts (EC) reduced an average of 32%!