Visible-Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy for Rapid Characterization of Salt-Affected Soil in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of Haryana, India

Management of salt-affected soils is a challenging task in the input intensive rice-wheat cropping zone of the Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP). Timely detection of salt-affected areas and assessment of the degree of severity are vital in order to narrow down the potential gap in yield. Conventional laboratory techniques of saturation extract electrical conductivity (ECe) and sodium adsorption ration (SAR) for soil salinity assessment are time-consuming and labour intensive; the VNIR (visible-near infrared) reflectance spectroscopy technique provides ample information on salinity and its attributes in an efficient and cost-effective way. This study aims to develop robust soil reflectance spectral models for rapid assessment of soil salinity in the salt affected areas of the IGP region of Haryana using VNIR reflectance spectroscopy. The results indicated that the spectral region between 1390 and 2400 nm was highly sensitive to measure changes in salinity. The developed hyperspectral models explained more than 80 % variability in ECe, and other salinity related attributes (saturated extract Na+, Ca2+ + Mg2+, Cl- and SAR) in the validation datasets. With the increasing availability of data from hyperspectral sensors in near future, the study will be very useful in real time monitoring of soils in the spatio-temporal context; enabling the farmers of IGP area to deal with salt degradation more effectively and efficiently.