Abstract

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is one of the major crops in the Hetao Irrigation District (HID), which belongs to the cold and arid region, Bayannur, Inner Mongolia, China. The sunflower is planted in the saline-alkali farmlands, accounting for approximately 1/2 of the total planting area. The sunflower yield is relatively low. However, studies on improving the saline-alkali soils in the HID are still lacking. In this study, through an in-depth investigation of the HID soils and literature review, we revealed the synergistic complementary effects between elemental sulfur (S⁰) and Micro-Algae (MA) on saline-alkali soils. Also, we proposed a novel idea that the interaction between S0 and MA could be used to improve the salinealkali soils in the HID or other arid regions.

Keywords: Sunflower; Elemental sulfur; Micro-algae; Saline-alkali soil; Hetao irrigation District