In large irrigation areas, easy and quick soil salinity appraisal by conventional techniques is not possible due to the fact that field and laboratory studies on conventional soil salinity appraisal techniques are difficult and time consuming. Therefore, it has been lately witnessed that an instrument, dubbed as EM38, acting with electromagnetic induction technique has been commonly used for the purpose of easy assessment and quantification of soil salinity especially in large-scale agricultural areas. In this study, assessment of soil salinity by conventional method and EM38 technique was compared. The study is carried out in Serik Plain on the Southern coastal Mediterranean region near Antalya province, Turkey. Sampling points were randomly selected in the studied area. Soil samples as 6 layers on these selected sampling points were collected. These soil samples were analyzed for soil salinity by conventional methods (ECe, dS/m) in the laboratory. EM38 lectures (ECa, dS/m) as apparent soil salinities were done at the same sampling points. As a result of the study, a significant linear relationship was obtained between laboratory soil salinity measurements (ECe) and EM38 readings (ECa). It was concluded that the developed calibration equation can be used to precisely estimate soil salinity at any unsampled site in the study domain.
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