The effect of salinity on plant growth

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Salinization is a process that occurs when water gets waterlogged and then evaporated. Okay, so since the water has evaporated, what seems to be the problem?

The problem is not the water itself, but the salt in the water, since salt doesn’t evaporate with water, it stays behind in the soil, thus affecting nearby plants in the environment. Okay, since salt is in the soil around a plant, how does it affect the plant? Osmosis is a process in which water gets pulled through a membrane, and plants use osmosis to intake water. The problem is that salt particles clog up membranes, thus making it harder for a plant to intake water. Once the salt concentrations get high enough, the plant will eventually die of thirst. 

I actually tested this in my high school AP Environmental Science Class, and found that once salt conditions reach 1.5% in water, the plant growth diminishes from 6.7 plants germinated to 0.4 plants germinated on average. This process is seen everywhere, Shrivastava and Kumar showcased that soil salinity affects farmers on a large scale, reducing crop yields somewhere between 20-50%. 

However, there is still some hope, Shrivastava and Kumar also showcased that microbial remediation may be a good approach to solving this problem, where the use of microbes could help in reducing the effect of salt in our farms. The scientists used 19 different bacteria, all specializing in different plants, and their results showcase that this type of science could be probable towards the fight towards saving our fruits and vegetables.

Sources:

Shrivastava, P., & Kumar, R. (2015). Soil salinity: A serious environmental issue and plant growth promoting bacteria as one of the tools for its alleviation. Saudi journal of biological sciences, 22(2), 123–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sjbs.2014.12.001