Assessment of the Current Soil-Reclamation State of the Soils of Myrzashol in the Kazakhstan Part (The Hungry Steppe)

Abstract

Central Asia is well-known for its productive irrigated lands and pastures. However, the region is currently dealing with serious land degradation and soil salinization issues.This article discusses the problem of soil salinization in the Kazakh part of the Myrzashol massif (The Hungry Steppe), where irrigated agriculture is developed.The reclamation state of the soil cover in this massif was assessed using field and laboratory studies from 1995 to 2014 and from 2014 to 2020. In the study area, in the period from 2015 to 2020, several samples were continuously taken before the growing season, as well as after the growing season at 529 wells for sampling the level and mineral composition of groundwater and the chemical composition of the soil.If in 1995, out of 125.4 thousand hectares of irrigated land, 31.8 thousand hectares (25.4%) were moderately and heavily salted, then in 2020, out of 146.5 thousand hectares of land, 57 thousand hectares (38.7%) were subjected to secondary salinization. Over the last 25 years, the area of moderately and heavily saline lands on the irrigated Myrzashol massif has grown by 25.2 thousand hectares.Before the transformation of the Myrzashol zone into an irrigated one, the groundwater level was within 15-30 m. In 2020, the groundwater level on the irrigated area of 3622 ha was 0-1 m (in 1994 it was 105 ha), on 38,155 ha (in 1994 it was 7,792 ha) -1-2 m.The results of the study showed that the increase in the level of salinity of the soil cover is associated with an increase in the groundwater level due to the poor level of irrigation systems, as well as the weak filtration capacity of soils.

Application of a Bi-Directional Gated Recurrent Unit Combined with a Recurrent Neural Network Model Based on Fusion Attention Mechanism in Estimating Soil Salinity

“…Soil salinization has seriously affected the water absorption capacity of crop roots and soil structure [4], resulting in large-scale farmland degradation and crop yield reduction [5], resulting in a loss of global income of over 32 billion US dollars per year [6]. It is not optimistic that the area of salinized soil is expanding at a rate of 1-2 million hectares per year, and due to climate change [7], this rate is expected to increase further in the coming decades [8]. The most intuitive manifestation of soil salinization is its serious impact and harm on agricultural production [9].…”

Agronomic and reclamation strategies to enhance soil fertility, productivity and water accessibility

“…In South Kazakhstan, the main agricultural region, due to the lack of demand for cotton and alfalfa and low yields, many farms were unable to purchase machinery, fuel, fertilisers and pesticides. As a result, arable land was abandoned, and the area of irrigated land decreased from 500.5 thousand ha to 395.0 thousand ha, including in cotton rotation -from 220 thousand ha to 174.4 thousand ha (Tokbergenova et al, 2023). Currently, farmers of Arys, Maktaaral, Otyrar, Saryagash and Shardara administrative districts of Turkestan region throughout Kazakhstan are engaged in cotton cultivation (Poshanov et al, 2022).…”