Employees of the laboratory of biotechnology of the Center for Technology of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan together with specialists from the Department of Biology of the Turkmen State Pedagogical Institute named after Seyitnazar Seydi conducted research and developed biological methods to reduce soil salinity.
In particular, scientists proposed to introduce plant waste onto saline soil areas, which in turn prevent further salinization.
– These wastes can act as sorbents. Sorbents - selectively absorb certain substances from the environment. In the process of decomposition and formation of the organic part of the soil, the salts decompose, - the manager of the laboratory Bezirgen Hallyyev explains.
Attention to this issue is understandable - salinization is increasingly recognized as a factor that negatively affects the productivity of agricultural crops. With salinity, the activity of nucleic acids decreases, nitrogen metabolism is disturbed, which leads to the breakdown of proteins, and their synthesis is suppressed, which is associated with a violation of synthetic processes and the hormonal balance of the roots.
For the whole of Central Asia, the problem of the increase in saline, unsuitable for agriculture soils is extremely urgent. In agricultural practice, the method of washing soils from salinization has long been entrenched. This agricultural technique, depending on climatic conditions, is carried out in the winter-spring period and requires significant capital investments and water resources. All this not only increases the cost of production, for example, of raw cotton, but also leads to a shortage of water in the regions of Central Asia. Moreover, wash water through drainage systems enters water bodies and rivers, poisoning and polluting them. In most cases, drainage systems become clogged and do not function well, and on some saline soils, washing and watering agricultural plants is done with mineralized water. In addition, annual soil leaching and irrigated agriculture contribute to the rise of groundwater, which again carries salt into the fertile arable horizon. According to scientists, the best way out of this situation is to develop biological methods to reduce soil salinity.
Laboratory specialists plan to continue research in this direction together with the Turkmen State Pedagogical Institute named after Seyitnazar Seydi and Turkmen State University named after Magtymguly. Together, a combined method for reducing soil salinity will be developed.
