Regaining the agricultural potential of salt–affected lands offers an opportunity of production enhancement and sustaining food security in less favourable environments. This study aims at deciphering the synergy of adaptive and mitigation strategies– using salt tolerant rice varieties with affordable land reclamation and crop management options. The study was conducted following farmers’ participatory approach for 3 years (2017–19) in sodicity–affected Ghaghar Basin of Haryana, India. Compared with the locally adapted variety PB1121, using the salt tolerant Basmati CSR30 resulted in less yield reduction and better returns, providing better opportunities for stabilizing crop production, and enhancing resilience and adaptation in sodic soils irrigated with alkali water. Gypsum and pressmud–mediated land reclamation reduced soil sodicity, improved salt tolerance and increased yield by ∼35 % compared to the control (2.19 t ha^–1). Transplanting two seedlings per hill at 20 × 15 cm spacing resulted in better crop establishment and plant stand, with consequent increase in yield and economic gains over the farmers’ practice of randomly transplanting one seedling hill^–1. The significant increase in yields with addition of ∼25 % more N confirmed the farmers’ perception of using more N in sodic soils, suggesting the need for revising existing recommendations. Curve Expert model revealed genotypic variation in N requirements, with 90 kg N ha^–1 for CSR30 and 140 kg N ha^–1 for PB1121 as economically optimum in sodic soils. Transformative improvements involving the use of adapted stress–tolerant varieties with location–specific agronomic practices increased yield by 6% over the existing recommendations and by 24 % over farmer’s practices; showing potential for bridging the rice yield gaps, halting salt–induced land degradation and improving rural livelihood in salt–affected areas.

恢复受盐影响土地的农业潜力提供了在不利环境中提高产量和维持粮食安全的机会。本研究旨在解读适应性和缓解策略的协同作用——使用具有负担得起的土地开垦和作物管理选项的耐盐水稻品种。该研究在印度哈里亚纳邦受碱度影响的 Ghaghar 盆地进行了为期 3 年（2017-19 年）的农民参与式方法。与本地适应品种PB1121相比，使用耐盐巴斯马蒂CSR30减产幅度较小，收益较高，为稳定作物生产提供了更好的机会，增强了碱水灌溉的碱土的恢复力和适应能力。石膏和压泥介导的土地复垦降低了土壤碱度，^–1 )。以 20 × 15 cm 的间距每小山移植两株幼苗可改善作物定植和植株，与农民随机移植一株幼苗的做法相比，随之增加了产量和经济收益^–1。添加约 25 % 的氮显着增加了产量，这证实了农民对在钠质土壤中使用更多氮的看法，这表明需要修改现有的建议。曲线专家模型显示在N-要求基因型变异，用90千克氮公顷^-1为CSR30和140公斤氮公顷^-1PB1121 在含盐土壤中是最经济的。涉及使用具有特定地点农艺实践的适应性抗逆品种的变革性改进使产量比现有建议提高了 6%，比农民的实践提高了 24%；显示出弥合水稻产量差距、阻止盐分引起的土地退化和改善受盐分影响地区农村生计的潜力。