Saline soils
The Sustainable Grazing on Saline Land program has developed techniques for reclaiming salt affected and waterlogged areas of the farm using tolerant pasture species that also provide valuable grazing for sheep.
Most modern agricultural systems are based on annual crops and pastures that use less of the annual rainfall than the original vegetation.
The excess rainfall drains below the root zone and joins the water table, causing it to rise and bring dissolved salts into the root zone. This results in dryland salinity and deteriorating soil health. There are currently 5.5 m ha of land classified as “at risk” of salinity and this is predicted to rise in the future.
Most dryland salinity is in southern Australia where the majority of land clearing has occurred.
Prevention by retaining native vegetation, is no longer an option in most of southern Australia. There are three possible approaches to managing dryland salinity and increasingly a mixture of these approaches are being applied.
- Reducing groundwater recharge by increasing the proportion of perennials (grasses and trees) in the landscape. AWI investments in Evergraze and Evergreen are focussed on increasing the proportion of perennials in the landscape.
- Adapting to salinity and developing productive pasture solutions for salt affected land
- Drainage to provide an outfall for rising saline water and to lower the water tables to below the root zone.
Salt tolerant pasture species offer the potential to make use of the excess water and increase dry matter production and livestock productivity.
Sustainable Grazing on Saline Land, a Sub Program of Land Water & Wool, has demonstrated that there are major opportunities to increase farm profitability and livestock production through changed management of saline areas. This approach also delivers environmental benefits through improved soil heath, biodiversity and removing salt from the surface of the landscape.
Visit www.landwaterwool.gov.au.
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