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As a crucial reserve of arable land resources, the remediation and efficient utilization of saline-alkali land are vital not only for expanding arable land and increasing productivity but also for ecological security, industrial upgrading, and rural revitalization. Sodium Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC), a green, efficient, and sustainable functional polymer material, is becoming a key technology for transforming saline-alkali land into productive farmland.

Derived from natural biomass and produced through green processes, CMC is a non-toxic, harmless, residue-free high-performance polymer material suitable for agricultural ecosystems. Its role in saline-alkali land remediation involves systematic restructuring from soil microstructure to macroecology.

1.1 Super Water Retention: Building a Long-Term “Underground Reservoir”
The CMC molecular structure contains high-density carboxyl and hydroxyl groups—strong hydrophilic functional groups. When exposed to water, it rapidly swells to form a stable three-dimensional network hydrogel structure, absorbing up to hundreds of times its weight in water. Under the high evaporation and leakage conditions of saline-alkali land, CMC firmly retains irrigation water and rainfall in the crop root zone, providing a sustained water supply system, improving water use efficiency, and saving irrigation water by over 30%.

1.2 Strong Aggregation: Reshaping the Soil “Physical Framework”
Saline-alkali land commonly suffers from soil compaction, poor permeability, salt accumulation on the surface, and difficulty for root penetration. With excellent bonding, flocculation, and thickening properties, CMC strongly binds dispersed soil particles, rapidly forming water-stable macro-aggregates that open channels for water, air, and heat transfer. After CMC application, soil porosity increases significantly, bulk density decreases, and compacted layers become loose, enabling “roots to penetrate deeper, salts to leach downward, and air to circulate upward.”

1.3 Chelation and Salt Control: Purifying the Root Zone “Growing Environment”
The CMC polymer chain possesses strong ion adsorption and chelation capabilities, selectively adsorbing excess harmful ions such as sodium and chloride, effectively reducing soil alkalinity and salinity. Additionally, CMC helps regulate soil pH, neutralizes alkaline substances, passivates heavy metals and harmful ions, and purifies the root zone micro-ecological environment, transforming saline-alkali land from “crop-inhibiting” to “crop-friendly.”

1.4 Slow-Release Nutrient Enhancement: Creating a Long-Term “Nutrient Reservoir”
The three-dimensional network structure of CMC strongly adsorbs and fixes nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and trace elements, enabling slow release and balanced supply of nutrients, addressing the issues of nutrient leaching and low fertilizer efficiency in saline-alkali land. After CMC application, fertilizer use efficiency increases by over 40%, significantly reducing chemical fertilizer usage and achieving the triple goals of “reduced fertilizer, enhanced efficiency, and environmental protection.”

2.1 Significantly Increased Agricultural Productivity
CMC can increase crop emergence rates by over 50% and survival rates by over 60% in saline-alkali land, with per-mu yields of grain and cash crops increasing by 20%-50%, truly transforming “saline-alkali wasteland into granaries.”

2.2 Broad Adaptability and Diverse Applications
CMC is suitable not only for grain and cash crop cultivation but also for a wide range of applications including landscaping, ecological restoration, facility agriculture, forage planting, and desertification control on saline-alkali land—one material with multiple uses.