Resumen

ZALBA, Pablo; GARAY, Maximiliano; AMIOTTI, Nilda  y  ARES, Adrian. Improved Field Method For Estimating Soil Salinity. Cienc. suelo [online]. 2013, vol.31, n.2, pp.265-269. ISSN 1850-2067.

Soil salinity is a worldwide limitation for agriculture productivity and simplified procedures to assess salinity are needed. In this study, an efficient method for estimating electrical conductivity (EC) on a saturation extract (EC_ex) from readings in saturated soil-paste to assess soil salinity was improved. EC values measured in a saturation extract (EC_ex) were compared with those estimated from a saturated paste (EC_est) in 36 texturally- different samples from a broad array of soils with halophyte and glycophyte vegetation in the semiarid region of Argentina. The EC_est values were very close to EC_ex values up to 8 dS m^-1, at greater values, estimates tended to diverge from observed values. Determination of EC in a saturated soil-paste is a simple and rapid procedure resulting in an accurate estimation of EC in the saturated extract as indicated by the high degree of predictability (r²= 0.95; P< 0.01). In addition, the pH measured in the saturated paste was a good predictor of soil pH, and closely approximated the pH determined in a 1:2.5 soil: water mixture.

Palabras clave : Field soil salinity; Saturated paste.

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