Breakthrough in saving the nation’s salty lands

CHINESE researchers have discovered that salty land may be reclaimed by freezing saline water over the soil in winter.

In addition, they found that the desalination depth of saline ice meltwater into the saline-alkali soil was greater than that of saltfree ice, according to a recent study paper published in the European Journal of Soil Science.

China has about 1.5 billion mu (100 million hectares) of salinealkali land that lacks freshwater resources.

This type of land restricts agricultural production and vegetation growth. Scientists have been trying to figure out how to turn barren, salty soil into arable land.

Researchers from the Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences evaluated infiltration and soil desalination under melting saline ice into saline soil.

They found that the infiltration of saline ice meltwater went deeper into the saline soil than fresh ice meltwater.

Previously, the researchers developed a saltwater irrigation method to improve cotton yield in saline soils, based on the separation of saline and freshwater by melting saline ice.

They used salty water with less than 15 grams per liter concentration to irrigate the saline-alkali land in winter.

The saline water was frozen into ice on the top of the soil. When spring came, the saline ice melted and infiltrated into the saline soil gradually.

(Xinhua)