Salt Problems from Increased Irrigation Efficiency

Abstract

Increasing on‐farm irrigation efficiency reduces deep percolation and generally increases concentrations of soluble salts in the root zone. Since more salt precipitation occurs within the porous soil matrix, the mass of soluble salts is reduced. In addition, exchangeable sodium builds up on the cation exchange complex and plant available water decreases. Conventional irrigation scheduling techniques become less adequate and the need for salinity monitoring increases. Generally, however, the potential benefits of increasing irrigation efficiency outweigh the potential problems caused by the aforementioned.