Crop Production in Salt Affected Soils

The course work for various degree programs are constantly revised and or new courses added so that the future teachers, researches and planners are able to face the new emerging challenges. The environmental concerns of irrigated agriculture in the form of water logging and soil salinity are expanding and impacting food grains production. These challenges are commonly articulated at various forums. Thus, reclamation, management and crop production practices of waterlogged salt affected soils have been introduced as a subject in agricultural and agricultural engineering colleges. Since there is a general lack of a good textbook on this subject, authors have attempted to fill this gap through the current publication titled `Crop Production in Salt Affected Soils´. It comprehensively deals with the fundamentals of land reclamation principles and crop production practices. It has been divided into 16 Chapters. The book begins with general introduction comprising of categorization of salt affected soils, extent and distribution and nature and physical, chemical and biological properties. Other chapters includes basic information on on-farm land development, hydrology, irrigation practices, drainage methods, leaching, soil salinization, chemical amendments, and new innovative techniques including agronomic and cultural practices related to land reclamation. Crop production practices for select cereal, oil seeds, sugar, fiber and forage, green manure crops, grasses and forest plantations are also included. Chapter sixteen covers the economic evaluation and social issues involved in land reclamation programs. A Glossary of terms has been added for quick overview of the terms used in the book. The textbook designed and developed for the undergraduate/post graduate students of agricultural/agricultural engineering has been profusely illustrated so that students are able to visualize the processes and phenomena being dealt with. Besides serving as a text book, it will prove to be a handy resource book to conduct specialized training programs on land reclamation. We believe that the book will find its due place in the shelves of students and teachers, field functionaries and college libraries of state agricultural universities and civil engineering colleges.