Dry Saline Land

Welcome to your resource for understanding and managing saline-affected soils. Here, we’ll explain how Dry Saline Lands work, how to identify them, and provide four essential management strategies to help restore productivity. Whether you’re facing challenges with crop growth or soil degradation due to salt build-up, our insights will guide you toward sustainable solutions for thriving farmland.

Explore the page to learn more about identifying Dry Saline Lands and best practices for managing them effectively.

1. How Dry Saline Land works

Dry saline land is (DSL) is saline land degradation caused by transient subsoil salinity wicking to the surface through hot dry periods.

It is not driven by shallow perched or regional water tables and surface impacts can change significantly with seasonal conditions.

Transient salinity from subsoil layers rises through evaporation & capillary rise to concentrate in surface layers making them temporarily or permanently toxic to crop and pasture growth.

2. How to identify Dry Saline Land

1. Assess the landscape
Assess the landscape as to whether there are any sandy potential recharge areas with may be contributing to a perched water table Mallee Seep. Dry saline land can appear anywhere in paddocks from within broad stony or clayey flats to the tops of rises.

2. Dig a hole
Dig a hole with an auger to check whether there is any obvious perched water table within the top 2m of soil. If so, then the area should be managed as a Mallee Seep.

3. Analyse Satellite Data
Check the satellite NDVI history for the site (AgriSolve – Step by step guide to early Mallee seeps ID using NDVI). Mallee seeps will show extended plant growth around scald areas through October and November due to root access to perched water tables, whereas Dry Saline Land will not.

Below is an example of NDVI images taken late season, (Nov 1st) 2020, as paddock growth dries out

Dry Saline Land

Mallee Seep

3. Four key management Strategies to overcome Dry Saline Land.

DSL is not easily overcome, particularly with large land areas in low rainfall farming areas where topsoil salts have been accumulating for many years.
However, there are 4 key management principles that help reduce and reverse DSL –

3.1 – Establishing and Maintaining Soil Cover

3.2 – Saline Topsoil Amelioration

3.3 – Opportunistic management of seasonal rainfall

3.4 – Using Salt Tolerant Varieties

The optimal strategies used will depend on individual factors such as the size and severity of DSL areas, soil types, farming systems, access to resources and seasonal conditions.

3.1 – Establishing and Maintaining Soil Cover
  • Soil cover in dry periods can protect at risk areas, preventing substantial surface salt accumulation within the top 5cm.
  • Spreading straw / other material, or growing and maintaining plant residues is key to reducing evaporation and wicking of salts to surface.
  • Removal of cover through over-grazing of livestock / vermin or erosion will greatly increase salinisation.
  • Covered soils have shown recovery from toxic surface levels even over 1 summer period.
Farmer case studies – Key learnings

Click an image below to view more

Long-Term Impact of Sand Mulch on Dry Saline Land at Manangatang – Rick Plant

Sand and Straw Overcome Growing Dry Saline Patches near Wentworth – Ben Pollard

The Innovative chaff mulch is in management podcast – Bruce Heddle, Minnipa

How to spread straw – Rick Plant

Spreading sand vs straw – Rick Plant

Practical solutions for managing widespread saline land – Philip Johns

3.2 – Saline Topsoil Amelioration

  • Placing 5-10cm of sand or sand / manure mixes on the surface has been the most successful strategy for reversing DSL degradation.

  • Sand provides an instant non-saline environment for seeds to germinate, grow in and provide vital ongoing residue cover.
  • Sand also acts as coarse soil cover reducing wicking of salts to surface.
  • Original saline soils under the applied sand layers have returned to health after a few seasons, while ongoing impacts have lasted beyond 15 years.
  • NB: One site with sand on scald was not sown and saw salt rise back to the surface. Always sow and grow cover after sand application.
  • Reefinating sand into topsoil on stony scalds showed only a slight improvement over surface sand application.
  • Spading sand or manure into DSL was detrimental in bringing clay to surface.
Farmer case studies – Key learnings

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Sand and Straw Overcome Growing Dry Saline Patches near Wentworth – Ben Pollard

Stony Soil Amelioration For Patchy Dry Saline Land – Travis Thiel

Improving dry saline land with sand mulch at Buckleboo -Tristan Baldock

Stony dry saline land restored to full production with sand mulch – David Schmidt

Sand mulch rehabilitates dry saline land patches on the upper Eyre Peninsula – Terry & Tom Schmucker

The logistics of sand mulch to transform Dry Saline Land – Tristan Baldock, Buckleboo

Long-Term Impact of Sand Mulch on Dry Saline Land at Manangatang – Rick Plant

The Do’s and Dont’s of Soil Ameliorations for Dry Saline Land – Matt Starick

Tackling salinity with sand and clay at Cootra – Terry Schmucker, Cootra

Mannum Building resilience to drought on saline land

Saline Soils Truro

Spreading sand vs straw – Rick Plant

3.3 – Opportunistic management of seasonal rainfall
  • Soil salinity within the top 5cm of soil can change significantly based on rainfall events leaching and diluting salts.
  • This can create periods for seed germination and seedling establishment that, if cover is established and maintained, will improve soil health.
  • While more research is needed, indications are that seeding DSL prone areas immediately following significant rainfall events – even later or earlier than the usual seeding program,
  • Alternatively, just allowing volunteer growth to establish after autumn rainfall on DSL areas, may be an important and easy step towards achieving initial cover and begin the surface desalinisation process.
  • Autumn rainfall events appear more useful in reducing salt impacts on crop establishment, as early summer rainfall followed by hot dry periods can bring more salt to the surface (depending on soil types and rainfall amount).
  • In years when crops grow or DSL patches reduce, maintain this cover by excluding livestock or delaying grazing to autumn, without baring it out.
Farmer case studies – Key learnings

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Opportunistic Sowing Into Dry Saline Land After Rain

From rainfall to grazing, effective management of saline land- Matt Cook

Strategic Management around seasonal rainfall

3.4 – Using Salt Tolerant Varieties
  • Barley and oats appear to be the most tolerant crops, but this can vary between seasons and varieties.
  • In more severe DSL areas, or in low production areas where soil amelioration is less suited, fencing and planting saltbush or allowing volunteer salt tolerant volunteer species to establish may be the best option.
  • Puccinellia grass, while very salt tolerant, is very difficult to establish in low rainfall environments with no underlying water table.
  • The salt tolerant legume Messina has shown some prospects for low rainfall DLS areas but requires further investigation before recommendations made.
Farmer case studies – Key learnings

Click an image below to view more

Reclaiming a Seep and Adding Feed With Saltbush – Trevor ‘Blue’ Wyatt

Crop varieties for dry saline land

Fodder shrubs with Dr Jason Emms April 2023

Using salt tolerant varieties

Acknowledgements