Effectiveness of Organic Wastes as Fertilizers and Amendments in Salt-Affected Soils

Mariangela Diacono and Francesco Montemurro
Additional contact information
Mariangela Diacono: Consiglio per la Ricerca e l'analisi dell'economia Agraria, CRA-SCA, Research Unit for Cropping Systems in Dry Environments, Via Celso Ulpiani 5, 70125, Bari, Italy
Francesco Montemurro: Consiglio per la Ricerca e l'analisi dell'economia Agraria, CRA-SCA, Research Unit for Cropping Systems in Dry Environments (Azienda Sperimentale Metaponto), SS 106 Jonica, km 448.2, 75010, Metaponto (MT), Italy

Agriculture, 2015, vol. 5, issue 2, 1-10

Abstract: Excessive salt rate can adversely influence the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils, mainly in arid and semi-arid world regions. Therefore, salt-affected soils must be reclaimed to maintain satisfactory fertility levels for increasing food production. Different approaches have been suggested to solve these issues. This short review focuses on selected studies that have identified organic materials (e.g., farmyard manures, different agro-industrial by-products, and composts) as effective tools to improve different soil properties (e.g., structural stability and permeability) in salt-affected soils. Organic fertilization is highly sustainable when compared to other options to date when taken into consideration as a solution to the highlighted issues. However, further experimental investigations are needed to validate this approach in a wider range of both saline and sodic soils, also combining waste recycling with other sustainable agronomic practices (crop rotations, cover crops use, etc. ).

Keywords: salts; salinization; Mediterranean environment; agro-industrial by-products; organic fertilization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/5/2/221/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/5/2/221/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:5:y:2015:i:2:p:221-230:d:48710

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().