Water and Salt Balance in Agricultural Lands under Leaching with Shallow Subsurface Drainage Used in Combination with Cut-Drains

Secondary salinization of irrigated lands in drylands is often caused by rising groundwater levels. Open drainage is widely employed to control groundwater. However, salinity levels tend to remain high under malfunctioning drainage conditions. Shallow subsurface drainage may be a possible solution to prevent salt accumulation, although it is difficult for farmers to apply conventional tile drainage systems owing to construction costs. In this regard, we proposed a low-cost shallow subsurface drainage system used in combination with a new mole-drain drilling technology (cut-drain) developed in Japan, whose drainage capacity is similar to tile drain. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of the proposed system. The system was installed in a farmland, Uzbekistan. The experimental field was set with/without the system to observe the differences in the balance of water and salt. The results revealed that the remaining infiltrated water in the field decreased by approximately 26% and the removed net mass of salt was 14 Mg ha−1. The direction of salt movement changed from the deeper zone or surrounding field to the open drainage. Therefore, the proposed system can enhance salt removal from fields.