Mukhtar Abduyev - Accelerated Reclamation of Alkaline Argillaceous Soils of Azerbaijan

The lowlands of Azerbaijan occupy an important place in the economy of the republic. The main cotton growing regions of Azerbaijan are located in the lowlands. Large areas are also devoted to cereals and viticulture. In addition, these regions are interesting from the standpoint of nature and also reclamation.

As is known, reclamation of saline soils is one of the major factors in agriculture intensification. Salinization in the soil and the ground waters of the Azerbaijan lowlands greatly impedes the development of irrigation, and the development and reclamation of the land there.

Calculations indicate that soils in need of radical reclamation in Azerbaijan amount to more than 60% of the lowlands of the republic. About 2.5 million hectares of these lands is deemed difficult to reclaim, due to a hard mechanical composition of the soil, high alkalinity, and low water permeability of the soil. To improve such lands, specialists usually apply high leaching rates of water, frequently exceeding 70,000-100,000 m3 per hectare of soil, and frequently also with a deep (more than 3 m) drainage network with interdrainage distances of 100 m or less. Leaching and desalinization of saline lands are sometimes prolonged for 8-10 years. These factors greatly raise the cost of reclamation operations (more than 5-6 times) and delay the development of saline lands under agricultural crops for several years.

Saline soils with analogous reclamation properties are widely distributed in the Siyazan-Sumgayit massifs, the Karabakh, Shirvan and Salyan steppes, South Mughan, and other massifs of Azerbaijan.

The high need in agriculture for expanding sown areas and achieving a sharp rise in yields of agricultural crops demands study of the main rules involved in the overall system, the mechanism of salt migration, and the physicochemical and water-physical properties of difficultly reclaimable salinized soils, and demands the development of scientific principles of radical reclamation directed toward sharp acceleration of leaching and development of these lands.

In this connection, we decided to study and develop methods of accelerated improving of difficultly reclaimable saline soils in Azerbaijan on the basis of production-scale experiments.

With a view toward a more well-founded solution to the problem, we have carried out complex research work on difficultly reclaimable saline clay soils of the Karabakh steppe, including research into salt removal, differentiation and conjugacy of salt masses, changes in physicochemical and water-physical properties of soils, and productivity of soils leached by various means, through growing of agricultural crops in vegetation and field conditions. The crops involved were cotton, barley, and rice, as agricultural crops, and fodder pea, as forage.

The field investigations were carried out under the leadership and direct participation of the author. Also participating in the field work were graduate students V.A. Ahmedov, N.K. Mikhailov, and partly T.G. Nazarov and A.M. Guliev. Soil analyses were performed by junior research workers Sh.I. Javadzade, N.D. Ismailova and R.G. Aslanova. Calculations were performed by engineer S.G. Isgenderova. The author expresses his grateful acknowledgement to the abovementioned researchers.