Management techniques for sustainable farming in a region under desertification based on the control of salt movement in the root zone.

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An experimental field was established in the upper Yellow River basin (Gansu, China) in a semiarid region and experiments were conducted on the two techniques of reclaiming salt-affected soil, the PSW-Well (pumping-up-saline-water-from-wells) method which was proposed by the present author as an effective technique to leach salts from saline soil plots in irrigated fields, and the biological reclamation method which is based on the cultivation of crops that absorb salts actively from the soil (cleaning crops). Indoor experiments were also done in Japan at the same tome. The results showed that the two techniques need essential conditions to accomplish their purposes, respectively, as follows :(1) The PSW-Well method works well when the aquifer system through the basin is so homogeneous that perched water tables are not developed.(2) Cleaning crops should be good for absorbing salts and low in the demand for water as well.