CHARACTERIZATION OF SALT-AFFECTED SOILS
High Valley of Cochabamba - Bolivia
Andrade D., Colinet G.
University of Liege - Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech - Soil Science
Passage des Déportés, 2 - B-5030 Gembloux / dn.andrade@doct.ulg.ac.be
✓ Soils are mainly saline-sodic (saline-alkali) with an over-accumulation of Na+ and soluble salts, contributing to soil disaggregation, water-logging, transient salinity and plant toxicity
✓ The salt-term classification (USDA) should consider salt types and their ratios for a more suitable salt-affected soil characterization ✓ The regression models for SARe, EC1:5, and ESP can be used to estimate ESP, ECe and CROSS respectively
✓ Due to dominant salinity and sodicity, chemical/organic amendments and lixiviation strategies for saline-sodic soil reclamation might be assessed
• Generate a comprehensive salt-term soil classification, besides a salt-affected soil description database
• Validate the relationships among salinity / sodicity parameters • Define future perspectives in terms of soil rehabilitation
SP1 Santa Ana SP2 Cliza SP3 San Benito SP4 Aramasi SP5 Arani
OBJECTIVES
LOCATION P R O F I L E S COLOR LANDSCAPE TEXTURE SALINITY PARAMETERS CATION DISTRIBUTION ANION DISTRIBUTIONSARe & ESP
ESP & CROSS
EC 1:5 & ECe
ESP & PREDICTED ESP
ESP & ECe CLASSIFICATION
SOME REMARKS & CONCLUSIONS
ESP= Exchangeable Sodium Percentage, EC= Electrical Conductivity, SAR= Sodium Adsorption Ratio, CROSS= Cations Ratio of Soil structural Stability
E S P E C p H
- Exchangeable Na+ and EC show similar behavior - Taking into account
[2CO3= + HCO3-] and/or
Na+ over [Cl- + 2SO4=]
ratios (Chhabra 2005),
neutral salts predominate over alkaline salts
- Predicted ESP from SARe correlates to ESP of
exchangeable cations - High correlation
between Ece and EC1:5 - “Saline-sodic” is the prevalent salinity class*
