SALTIRSOIL: an application to predict soil salinity in irrigated well-drained lands

 

SALTIRSOIL (SALTs in IRrigated SOILs) is a computer program developed to calculate the ionic composition and electrical conductivity of saline, calcareous and gypsiferous soil solutions in the mid to long term in irrigated well-drained lands. SALTIRSOIL uses climate, soil, crop, irrigation water quality and management data. From the information about rainfall, evapotranspiration and irrigation water amounts and crop management and soil hydrophysical properties, SALTIRSOIL carries out a monthly water balance for a year span. From this balance it calculates a soil solution concentration factor regarding the irrigation water. The major ion composition of the irrigation water is multiplied by the concentration factor leading to the composition of a soil solution away from equilibrium. This composition is the input to the module SALSOLCHEM, integrated within SALTIRSOIL, which calculates the soil solution composition at equilibrium with calcite and gypsum minerals and soil CO2. SALTIRSOIL is written in Microsoft Visual Basic©. The data required to run the simulations must be saved in a Microsoft Excel© spreadsheet workbook with a predetermined structure upon which the application runs. The simulations are batch-run.

The essential steps for running the SALTIRSOIL model are described below.

SALTIRSOIL is copyrighted software by the author, distributed free for research, management and educational purposes and downloadable here.

The SALTIRSOIL_M model has featured several research articles which can be accessed from this page.

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Data workbook

SALTIRSOIL works associated with a spreadsheet workbook, which is organized in fifteen sheets. When the program is installed in the computer the workbook SALTIRSOIL.xls is saved in the program folder SALTIRSOIL. The input data to the program have to be saved in this workbook, the output data are also written in this workbook. Fulfilment of all the required input data in this workbook is the first step for using SALTIRSOIL.

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Crop parameters

In this screen we select to work with either annual crops choosing the option "Annual" in the "Crop type" box or with multiannual crops choosing the option "Tree" in the same box. Next we have to select which specific crop we want to simulate. When working with annual crops we must select the cropping season length and finally the planting date. To save these calculations in the SALTIRSOIL.xls workbook we must press the "Annotate" button.

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Reference evapotranspiration

In this box we expand the drop down list "Weather station" and choose the one whose data we would like to use. When we select a weather station, the reference evapotranspiration calculation methods available for that station will be activated in the "Available calculation methods" box. We choose one of them and the results will be graphed in the "Climogram" picture. As before to save these calculations in the SALTIRSOIL.xls workbook we must press the "Annotate" button.

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Running the simulations

When we have all the necessary input data in SALTIRSOIL.xls workbook, we expand the "Simulations" menu and select "Batch runs". We choose the values of the general parameters of simulation: depth of evaporative soil layer, depth of simulation, and number of soil layers in which the soil is conceptually split. We also choose which assessment of the soil water holding capacity we prefer, either measurements or pedotransfer functions, and the soil solution to be simulated.

Let's get started with SALTIRSOIL following these four steps:

                1. Click on the button below and and save the compressed zip file in your computer.
                2. Extract and save its content, which includes the spreadsheet workbook SALTIRSOIL.xls.
                3. Install the program by clicking on the setup.exe file.
                4. Follow the instructions.

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Related publications:

  1. SALTIRSOIL: a simulation model for the mid to long-term prediction of soil salinity in irrigated agriculture (2011). Soil Use and Management 27(4), pp. 523-537. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-2743.2011.00356.x
  2. Advances in validating SALTIRSOIL at plot scale: first results (2012). Journal of Environmental Management 95 (Supplement), pp. S31-S36. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2011.03.020
  3. Comparison of four steady-state models of increasing complexity for assessing the leaching requirement in agricultural salt-threatened soils (2012) Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research 10(1), pp. 222-237. doi: 10.5424/sjar/2012101-086-11