Assessment of soil salinization risks under irrigation with brackish water in semiarid Tunisia

• DOI: 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2012.06.002
• Publication Date: 2012-06-21T01:44:30Z
• Authors: Fethi Bouksila; Akissa Bahri; Ronny Berndtsson; Magnus Persson; Jelte Rozema; Sjoerd E.A.T.M. V...
• Keywords: Soil salinity control; Dryland salinity

The salinity problem is becoming increasingly widespread in arid countries. In semiarid Tunisia about 50% of the irrigated land is considered as highly sensitive to salinization. To avoid the risk of salinization, it is important to control the soil salinity and keep it below plant salinity tolerance thresholds. The objective of the present study was to provide farmers and rural development offices with a tool and methodology for predicting, monitoring of soil salinity for a better agronomical strategy. The experiments were carried out in the highly complex and heterogeneous semiarid Kalâat Landalous irrigated district of Tunisia. The field and laboratory measurements of soil and water properties were conducted in 1989 and 2006 at different observation scales (2900ha, 1400ha, 5200m long transect, and soil profiles). Seventeen years of reclamation of a saline and waterlogged soil led to the reduction of average electrical conductivity of the soil saturated paste extract (ECe), measured at 5 soil depths (from 0 to 2m) below the plant salt tolerance threshold and the dilution of groundwater salinity from 18.3 to 6.6dSm