One billion hectares of land worldwide is affected by several kinds of salinity and associated problems. The soil quality (SQ) in salt-affected soil (SAS) is impaired because of the presence of excess electrolytes, disproportionate Na and Ca in soil solution and exchange phase, rhythmic changes in the hydrological cycle, decreasing soil organic matter, poor vegetative cover, low soil biological activity, and crop residue return. Sodic and saline–sodic soils have the potential to provide alkaline reactions and soil physical constraints to regulate the soil attributes affecting SQ. Because of high spatial variability and rapid temporal changes, selection of simple, robust, low cost, and high-throughput master indicators for assessing SQ is very essential for monitoring the aggradation or degradation of SAS. Therefore, screening the master indicators for developing a minimum dataset for SQ assessment of SAS is an important issue for sustainable management of soil in these agro-ecologies. We captured the SQ indicators for SAS from several ecosystems of different countries and discussed the problems of parameterization for assessing SQ. Improved SQ for optimum soil functioning is needed for confirming agricultural productivity and food security around the globe. This review describes the causes and drivers for sodification/salinization and mechanism-oriented rehabilitation options such as the application of mineral gypsum, flue-gas–desulfurized gypsum, elemental S, acidified biochar, polymer, salt tolerance mechanisms, and other agro-techniques for improving the quality of SAS. Based on the SQ assessment, a suite of site-specific soil management practices are advocated for the greening of SAS and prosperity.

Judicious application of saline water except for critical growth stages, could be the only practical solution to meet the crop water demand in arid and semi-arid regions, due to limited access to freshwater, especially during dry winter months. A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of tillage [conventional (CT), reduced (RT), and zero (ZT)], rice straw mulch and deficit saline-water irrigation in wheat (100, 80 and 60% of wheat water requirement, CWR) followed by rainfed sorghum on soil properties and the yields of the cropping system. Yields of both the crops were comparable between RT and CT, but the wheat yield was reduced in ZT. The RT, mulching and deficit saline irrigation in wheat season (60% CWR) increased the sorghum fodder yield. Olsen’s P (8.7–20.6%) and NH₄OAc-K (2.5–7.5%) increased in RT and ZT, respectively, over CT under both the crops. Deficit irrigation reduced soil salinity (EC_e) by 0.73–1.19 dS m⁻¹after each crop cycle, while soil microbial biomass C (MBC) and N (MBN), dehydrogenase, urease and alkaline phosphatase reduced with an increase in EC_e. Theα-glucosidase, MBC, EC_e, KMnO₄oxidizable N, and urease were identified as major contributors in developing the soil health index. Deficit irrigation (60% CWR) and rice straw mulching under ZT and RT showed higher values of soil health index. Overall, deficit saline-water irrigation under reduced tillage and straw mulching had the greatest potential in maintaining soil health, saving fresh irrigation water without affecting the productivity of the sorghum-wheat system in the semi-arid regions of India. Results also demonstrated that salt affected areas of arid and semiarid countries can replicate the protocol for indexing and screening of soil health indicators to assess the sustainability of a cropping system. This integrated management based on the nature of the available resources also provided a practical approach to achieve the target of land degradation neutrality and land restoration.

Rice-based cropping systems are the foundation of food security in countries of Southeast Asia, but productivity of such systems has declined with deterioration in soil quality. These systems are different from other arable systems because rice is grown under submergence, and this may require a different set of key soil attributes for maintenances of quality and productivity. A minimum dataset was screened for assessing quality of soils belonging to three Soil Orders (Inceptisols, Entisols and Alfisols) by using statistical and mathematical models and 27 physical, chemical and biological attributes. Surface soils were collected from farmers’ fields under long-term cultivation of rice–potato–sesame cropping systems. Most of the attributes varied significantly among the Soil Orders used. Four or five key attributes were screened for each Soil Order through principal component and discriminate analysis, and these explained nearly 80% and 90% of the total variation in each Soil Order dataset. The attributes were dehydrogenase activity (DHA), available K, cation exchange capacity (CEC) and pHCa for Inceptisols; organic C, pHCa, bulk density, nitrogen mineralisation (Nmin) and ß-glucosidase for Entisols; and DHA, very labile C, Nmin and microbial biomass C for Alfisols. Representation of the screened attributes was validated against the equivalent rice yield of the studied system. Among the selected key soil attributes, DHA and CEC for Inceptisols, organic C for Entisols, and Nmin and very labile C for Alfisols were most strongly correlated with system yield (R2 = 0.45, 0.77 and 0.78). Results also showed that biological and chemical attributes were most sensitive for indicating the differences in soil quality and have a strong influence on system yield, whereas soil physical attributes largely varied but did not predict system yield.