Principles and Practice of Forestation in Saline Soil in China

With world population growth arable land area is decreasing. Saline soil is an important naturalresource. However it has not been well reclaimed owing to adverse conditions. Forestation is one way of saltysoil utilization; on the other hand, it can improve soil quality as well. The mechanism of salinity tolerance isthe basis for tree species selection when planting in salt affected soil. Different plants have various way ofsalinity tolerance, some are salt-exclusion, e.g. Elaeagnus angustifolia; some are salt-secretion, e.g. Tamarixspp.; some are salt-dilution, e.g. Hordeum vulgare; some are salt-avoidance, e.g. Rhizophora apiculata. Treesare favorable, which are salt tolerant and drought or waterlogging tolerant, as well as grow fast. After treespecies have been decided, site preparation including change or exchange of soil is necessary. Meanwhilesuitable density of trees and planting time must be carefully considered in terms of soil conditions andclimatic characteristics. Now a large scale of forests has been established in salt-affected soil in China by themeans discussed in the paper, and protect forest system along coast plays important roles in socio-economicsustainable development and improvement of eco-environment.