Abstract
Soil salinity and water scarcity has been recognized as an emerging threat towards food security globally. Since the beginning of the 21st century, it is projected that the salinity poses detrimental effects on the arable lands. It affects around 60 Mha or 20% of the total farmlands that accounts for more than 6% of the total cultivated area worldwide. This leads to the accumulation of various kinds of soluble salts (NaCl, KCl, MgCl2, and Na2SO4) in productive soils probably because of lack of good quality irrigation water. Altogether, salinity arises osmotic stress, ion toxicities, and water deficit in the root zone of saline soils which poses severe risks to crop growth and productivity. Several conventional methods (e.g., excavation, flushing, and addition of organic and inorganic amendments) have been used to reclaim salt affected soils hence, disturbing the agro-ecosystems. Therefore, to address these risks, a novel approach using super absorbent polymers (SAPs) has been adopted for soil restoration. These SAPs have the potential to absorb water up to 500 times of its size as well as store water and dissolve nutrients in it so that plants can use them accordingly. In the agriculture sector, SAP water crystals acts as a water reservoir for plants during the water shortage period. These SAPs can retain in the soil for one year and reduce osmotic stress by enhancing soil water holding capacity. Moreover, the addition of SAPs in the saline soil improves soil health by reducing soil bulk density and various other plant growth variables such as nutrients uptake and leaf pigments however, it enhances C assimilation in early crop growth, thereby decreasing antioxidant activity and EC of saline soils, It is necessary to catty out field research on a large-scale using Sap in different soil types in order to standardize the quality and quantity of different soils. Overall, the use of SAPs can be adopted as a possible novel approach to cope with the increasing salinity problems that directly affetcs the global food security.