Biological Amendments for Soil Salinity Mitigation: Strategies, Crop-Specific Management, and Yield Improvement

Soil salinity is a critical environmental issue that threatens agricultural productivity, ecosystem health, and global food security. Soil salinization and sodification are common processes that characterize arid and semi-arid regions. Saline, sodic, and saline-sodic croplands have expanded in size over time, accelerating desertification and soil degradation, which in turn reduces agricultural productivity. Across much of the world, drylands are primarily impacted by soil salinization and sodification. While primary salinity or sodicity results from natural physical conditions, secondary salinity or sodicity is largely driven by agricultural practices, particularly irrigation. An essential management tool for assessing the degree and severity of salinization processes is the mapping and monitoring of saline soils. Biological amendments such as biochar, compost, green manure, farmyard manure, vermicompost, poultry manure, plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria, mycorrhizal fungi, biofertilizer, and press mud increased soil structure, enhanced nutrient cycling, and the development of salt-tolerant plants have all been facilitated by biological inputs, leading to the development of more resilient and productive agricultural systems. Farmyard manure, algal, biochar, vermicompost, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), humic substances, press mud, poultry manure, green manure, compost, biofertilizer, improve plant growth, increase crop yield production, humic substances reduce soil salinization in soil and improve physical properties of the soil. This review demonstrates that various biological amendments can increase plant growth and productivity by boosting antioxidant enzyme activities, stabilizing ionic equilibrium, lowering oxidative stress and osmotic, and controlling gene expression. Plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) enhances salt tolerance by reducing osmotic and oxidative stress, maintaining ionic balance, boosting antioxidant enzyme activity, and regulating gene expression, leading to improved plant growth and higher yields.” These combined impacts lead to increased plant development and higher crop yield. This review examines agronomic practices and various biological amendments that mitigate soil salinization, improve crop management, and enhance yields.