Determining the Salinity Tolerance Threshold of Sardari Wheat in Rainfed Lands of Semi-Arid Region in Zanjan Province

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Soil Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran.

Abstract

Background and Objectives
Soil salinity is one of the most important factors influencing agricultural crops growth and yield including wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). It is a global issue threatening land productivity. Some soil properties and crop yield can be affected by soil salinity. Soil water potential decreases under soil salinity conditions and decreases water uptake at various growth stages especially during germination and greening stages. Soil moisture is the most important factor influencing growth and development of agricultural crops. Water scarcity is a major factor limiting agriculture development especially under rainfed condition. Plant root availability to soil water can be affected by soil salinity. Some human activities such as fertilization affects root water uptake and in consequence plant growth. In most studies, saline soils commonly referred to as soils with electrical conductivity (EC) more than 4 dS m−1 in saturated soil extracts. In other word, EC= 4 dS m−1 is a threshold for salinity in most irrigated crops. Despite there are various studies on the salinity tolerance threshold in agricultural crops, a little information is on this subject under natural soil salinity condition in rainfed lands. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the salinity threshold tolerance of winter wheat in rainfed lands of semi-arid regions.
Materials and Methods
This study was performed in rainfed lands of Zanjan province in north west of Iran. Toward this, 84 rainfed lands with slope ranging from zero to 2% were considered in the studied area. Wheat grain yield along with soil physicochemical properties were measured in each rainfed field at three replications. Relative wheat grain yield was computed using the proportion of wheat grain yield from each rainfed land and the maximum wheat grain yield among the rainfed lands. The correlation analysis was used to determine the relation between the relative wheat grain yield and soil physicochemical properties and the minimum statistically level was defined as 95%. The linear function of Mass and Hoffman (1977) was used for describing the linear relationship between the relative wheat grain yield and soil salinity. The salinity threshold tolerance for winter wheat was determined using the considerable relative grain yield loss at the lowest soil salinity.
Results
Results indicated that higher variation is in wheat grain yield in the rainfed fields, so that it was ranged from 356 kg per hectare to 1799 kg per hectare. Differences in soil properties is the major factor causing differences wheat grain yield in the area. The relative wheat grain yield was between 0.2 and 1 in the rainfed fields. The analysis of correlation matrix between the relative wheat grain yield and soil properties revealed that except to soil salinity, there was not any direct dependency between the relative wheat grain yield and other soil properties. The relative wheat grain yield was significantly affected by soil salinity, EC (r = -0.25, p < 0.05). The rainfed fields with higher soil salinity degree had lower relative wheat grain yield in the area. Soil salinity in the rainfed fields varies from 0.44 to 3.38 dS m-1. Soil salinity of 2.08 dS m-1 was the salinity tolerance threshold of winter wheat plant in the rainfed lands.
Conclusion
This study indicated that soil salinity was the major factor controlling wheat grain yield in the rainfed fields. The soil salinity increases water osmotic pressure and decreases soil water potential as well as the root availability to soil water in the rainfed lands. There were not natural factors causing salinity in the soils and the soil salinity in the rainfed lands was strongly affected by the human activities. Therefore, the use of conservation tillage systems and the lower use of chemical fertilizers are the effective methods to water conservation and prevent negative effects of salinity in the rainfed lands.
 
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, A.V. and F.B.; methodology, A.V. and F.B.; software, A.V. and H.S.; validation, A.V. and H.S.; formal analysis, A.V. and H.S.; investigation, A.V. and F.B.; resources, A.V. and F.B.; data curation, A.V. and H.S.; writing-original draft preparation, A.V. and H.S.; writing–review and editing, A.V.; visualization, A.V.; supervision, A.V..; project administration, A.V.; funding acquisition, A.V. and F.B. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
 
Acknowledgements
This paper is published as a part of a PhD thesis supported by the Soil Science and Engineering Department of the University of Zanjan, Iran. The authors are thankful to the University of Zanjan for financial supports.
 
Data Availability Statement
Data is available on reasonable request from the authors.
 
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
 
Ethical considerations
The authors avoided data fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and misconduct.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Journal of Soil and Plant Science
Volume 35, Issue 4
December 2025
Pages 23-39

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