Irrigated barley–grass pea crop mixtures can revive soil microbial activities and alleviate salinity in desertic conditions of southern Morocco

Soil salinity adversely limits crop and soil health, and this can be reversed by cropping systems where species exclude salts and activate microbial nutrient cycling. A randomized complete block design experiment was established in Laayoune–Morocco to evaluate the influence of irrigated grass pea and barley monocrops or combined together in 50–50% and 70–30% mixtures against soil salinity and CO 2 -C flux in sites with varying salinity. Site by treatment interaction significantly influenced (p