Okuzeka
Agriculture vocabulary · Soil and Land Management

Salinity

Meaning in agriculture, with examples

/səˈlɪnəti/nounCommon term

In agriculture, salinity means: The amount of dissolved salts in soil or water; high salinity makes it hard for plants to take up water and lowers yields.

In Turkish: tuzluluk, tuzlanma

How it is used

Measured as electrical conductivity (EC), in decisiemens per meter (dS/m). Salinity often develops when irrigation raises the water table and drainage is poor. Engineers talk about soil salinity, salinity tolerance and leaching salts.

Example sentences

  1. Poor drainage has caused salinity problems in parts of the irrigated plain.

  2. Barley has a higher salinity tolerance than most other cereals.

Common collocations

  • soil salinity
  • salinity tolerance
  • salinity problem
  • measure salinity
  • leach salts
  • soil pHA measure of how acidic or alkaline a soil is, on a scale from 0 to 14; it affects which nutrients plants can take up.
  • furrow irrigationA surface irrigation method in which water flows by gravity along small channels made between crop rows.
  • groundwaterWater stored underground in soil and rock layers called aquifers, which farmers pump up through wells for irrigation and livestock.
  • soil analysisA laboratory test of soil samples that measures nutrients, pH, organic matter, lime, salinity and texture, used as the basis for fertilizer recommendations.
  • irrigationThe artificial supply of water to land or crops through channels, pipes, sprinklers or drippers, used when rain alone is not enough.

More terms: Soil and Land Management

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: