Central Soil Salinity Research Institute

About: Central Soil Salinity Research Institute is a facility organization based out in Karnāl, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Soil salinity & Irrigation. The organization has 527 authors who have published 831 publications receiving 17688 citations.

Carbon and nitrogen mineralization from added organic matter in saline and alkali soils

Abstract: The mineralization of N in salt-affected soils is a subject of much controversy because there are reports of salt induced non-biological ammonification. In laboratory experiments we studied the decomposition of green manure Sesbania in saline and alkali (sodic) soils. Carbon mineralization was reduced from 38.6 to 16.8% when electrical conductivity (ECe) in saline soils was 97 dS m −1 . In alkali soils C mineralization was ∼38.0% irrespective of pH variation from 8.1 to 10.0. Ammoniacal-N accumulated up to ECe 70 dS m −1 beyond which it declined; nitrite+nitrate-N declined at ECe 16 dS m −1 and was not detectable at ECe≥26 dS m −1 . Net N mineralized decreased from 351.2 mg kg −1 in the non-saline control soil (ECe 1.1 dS m −1 ) to 277 mg kg −1 at ECe 97 dS m −1 salinity and from 399.2 in control (pH 8.1) to 317 mg kg −1 at pH 10.0 in alkali soils. There was no NH 3 volatilization in the saline soils and it was negligible in the alkali soils; most of the N lost was presumably due to denitrification. Protease, amidase (asparaginase, glutaminase) and deaminase (histidase) activities in soil were low but were stimulated by organic matter addition. Glutaminase activity was appreciable at high pH and deaminase at high salinity. The depression of ammonification at ECe 97 dS m −1 and the overall decrease in net N mineralization with increasing pH or salinity, and the significant enzymatic hydrolysis of organic N at high pH or salinity were all evidence of the biological nature of N mineralization in salt-affected soils. The adaptation of nitrifiers to salt stress at later stages of incubation, the nature of N losses and the reduction in losses with increase in pH or salinity also indirectly showed that N mineralization was biological and not chemical.

Salt-Affected Soils: Their Reclamation and Management for Crop Production

Abstract: Agricultural production in the arid and semiarid regions of the world is limited by poor water resources, limited rainfall, and the detrimental effects associated with an excess of soluble salts, constrained to a localized area or sometimes extending over the whole of the basin. In order to minimize vagaries of arid weather, bring more land under irrigation, and produce and stabilize greater yields per unit area, numerous water development projects have been commissioned all over the world. Extension of irrigation to the arid regions, however, usually had led to an increase in the area affected by shallow water tables and to intensifying and expanding the hazards of salinity. This is because irrigation water brings in additional salts and releases immobilized salts in the soil through mineral dissolution and weathering, and losing water volumes through evapotranspiration and concentrating the dissolved salts in soil solution. Fertilizers and decaying organic matter also serve as additional salt sources. Atmospheric salt depositions, though varying with location, may be an important source along the coasts. The relative significance of each source in contributing soluble salts depends on the natural drainage conditions, soil properties, water quality, soil water, and agronomic management practices followed for crop production.

Glacier changes in the Garhwal Himalaya, India, from 1968 to 2006 based on remote sensing

Abstract: Glacier outlines are mapped for the upper Bhagirathi and Saraswati/Alaknanda basins of the Garhwal Himalaya using Corona and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) satellite images acquired in 1968 and 2006, respectively. A subset of glaciers was also mapped using Landsat TM images acquired in 1990. Glacier area decreased from 599.9 ± 15.6 km2 (1968) to 572.5 ± 18.0 km2 (2006), a loss of 4.6 ± 2.8%. Glaciers in the Saraswati/Alaknanda basin and upper Bhagirathi basin lost 18.4 ± 9.0 km2 (5.7 ± 2.7%) and 9.0 ± 7.7 km2 (3.3 ± 2.8%), respectively, from 1968 to 2006. Garhwal Himalayan glacier retreat rates are lower than previously reported. More recently (1990–2006), recession rates have increased. The number of glaciers in the study region increased from 82 in 1968 to 88 in 2006 due to fragmentation of glaciers. Smaller glaciers ( 50 km2) which lost 2.8 ± 2.7% (0.074 ± 0.071 % a−1). From 1968 to 2006, the debris-covered glacier area increased by 17.8 ± 3.1% (0.46 ± 0.08% a−1) in the Saraswati/Alaknanda basin and 11.8 ± 3.0% (0.31 ± 0.08% a−1) in the upper Bhagirathi basin. Climate records from Mukhim (∼1900 m a.s.l.) and Bhojbasa (∼3780 m a.s.l.) meteorological stations were used to analyze climate conditions and trends, but the data are too limited to make firm conclusions regarding glacier–climate interactions.