How does salinity affect plants?
Salinity reduces the ‘availability’ of water to plants. In essence, salinity creates a condition like drought. Plants uptake water from the soil by regulating their internal salt concentration to be higher than the salt concentration of the surrounding soil solution. The amount of energy expended by plants to take up water is directly proportional to the salinity of the soil solution – the higher the soil solution salinity, the greater the amount of energy required by the plant to take up water. This expenditure of energy is usually reflected in reduced plant growth. There is another way that the salts that are causing salinity can affect plants – by being toxic to the plants. Some plants are particularly sensitive to elevated concentrations of certain elements of salts.
