Soil and Water Salinity Conditions Affecting Integrated Management of Certain Horticultural Crops in Iran: Challenges and Management Strategies

Document Type : Review

Author

Assistant Professor, National Salinity Research Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Yazd, Iran

Abstract

The sustainability of agricultural production in Iran is threatened by the two major factors of drought and salinity, with over 30% of orchards currently experiencing varying degrees of water and soil salinity stresses. The provinces in Iran most severely affected by salinity include Kerman (pistachio, citrus, date palm), Yazd (pistachio, pomegranate, almond), Sistan & Baluchestan (date palm), Fars (citrus, pomegranate), South Khorasan (saffron, barberry, fig), Qom (pomegranate, pistachio, grape), Khuzestan (date palm, citrus), Bushehr (date palm, lime), Isfahan (apple, peach, nectarine, pomegranate), Khorasan Razavi (pomegranate, saffron, apricot), Hormozgan (date palm, lime, mango), Semnan (pistachio, pomegranate, olive), Golestan (olive, orange), Zanjan (olive), Markazi (grape, walnut, almond), Kohgiluyeh & Boyer-Ahmad (lime), Tehran (grape, peach), and Alborz (peach, nectarine) as well as the coastal areas of Lake Urumia in East and West Azerbaijan (apple, grape, pear, apricot) and the eastern stretches of Mazandaran (orange, tangerine). Generally speaking, the crops most impacted by salinity are pistachio, date palm, pomegranate, olive, and citrus with the highest economic losses recorded for Kerman, Yazd, and Qom provinces. Given the current conditions and the emerging climate change, exploitation of saline water and soil to sustain horticultural production seems inevitable; this evidently calls for integrated management strategies, advanced agronomic practices, and improved breeding programs. It should. however, be noted that developing salinity- and drought-tolerant rootstocks and cultivars takes approximately 5–10 years, underscoring the need for strategic planning to address future climatic challenges. In addition to improved breeding methods, novel management methods are needed to combat and control salinity stress in horticultural crops, some of which include proper implementation of leaching, employment of novel and optimized irrigation systems, use of pressurized irrigation systems, application of various mulches and soil amendments alongside rhizosphere enhancement via microbial inoculants, land leveling, post-irrigation shallow tillage as well as application of phytohormones and nutrients such as salicylic acid, abscisic acid, and both macro- and micro-nutrients. Given the gap in field studies, priority in future research should be attached to both evaluation of integrated solutions at the commercial orchard and greenhouse scales and development of regional eco-friendly guidelines that will ultimately help horticultural production in Iran not only overcome the salinity challenge but also become a model for sustainable production in arid regions of the world.

Keywords

References

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Land Management Journal
Volume 13, Issue 2
January 2026
Pages 219-248

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