Organizational Problems of Soil Salinization Monitoring on Irrigated Lands

Saline soils are a huge potential resource of the soil fund of the country, which may be used in agricultural production at present and in the future, if regular collection of system data on saline and solonetzic soils is arranged. The proposals of scientists for improving the monitoring of irrigated lands are aimed at the solution of this problem. Information of this kind is relevant for the development of measures to stabilize and restore soil fertility. The problems of the organization of salinization monitoring for irrigated soils in Russia are considered. The proposed approaches to its optimization are based on the integrated use of remote and terrain data and on our own research experience in Volgograd oblast. A comparative analysis of existing approaches to monitoring of saline soils in our country and abroad is given. The term of saline soils is defined. We show which soil layer should be analyzed for the presence of easily soluble salts to assign the soils, as well as solonetzes and solonetzic soils, to saline. The terrain monitoring performed by hydrogeological and reclamation parties, counting saline and saline-solonetzic soils on irrigated lands by terrain and analytical methods, should be supplemented with annual monitoring (during the spring–summer period) based on remote information for comprehensive survey. This approach will enable us to identify irrigated, rain-fed, and fallow lands in irrigation systems by satellite images; to supplement permanent terrain survey plots with sampling sites chosen by remote information; to identify areas with secondary soil salinization by the vegetation status on irrigated lands with a critical groundwater level and to take samples in them for analysis; and to reveal areas of saline-solonetzic soils on rain-fed lands and in the fields with noncritical groundwater levels by the vegetation status. All this will expand the database and characteristics of saline and saline-solonetzic soils and supplement the information obtained by hydrogeological and reclamation parties at permanent survey sites for better accounting of these soils.