IJSRP, Volume 11, Issue 8, August 2021 Edition [ISSN 2250-3153]
Vivek Kumar Yadav and D.V. Singh
Abstract:
Salinity is a problem of irrigated agriculture and recognized as a serious threat to crop production. “Usar” soils are extensively distributed in the northern part of India (2.5 million ha) and are characterized as alkaline and or/ saline depending on the salt contents. The vast areas of ‘Usar’ lands occurring in Uttar Pradesh, found with varying degrees of salinity and alkalinity. In Uttar Pradesh, “Usar” soils distributed in Azamgarh, Ghazipur, Mau, Jaunpur and Varanasi and many other districts covering about 1.29 million hectares. Saline/alkaline soils (“Usar”) have high ph. and undesirable salts on their surface. Increasing soil salinity, high soluble salts, sodicity and high exchangeable sodium all are serious land degradation issues worldwide. Cyanobacteria (Blue-Green Algae) are a group of primitive phototrophic, Gram-negative and prokaryotic microbes occurring in a wide range of habitats including saline/alkaline soils.