Аннотация:Express assessment of salinity by the electrical conductivity of the liquid phase of the soil is widely used throughout the world. However, the results of such an assessment strongly depend on the «soil-water» ratio, while the known salinity standards for electrical conductivity are proposed for the soil solution in the state of soil water saturation (total water capacity). Thus, a serious underestimation of the degree of salinity may occur when using water extracts (suspensions) with an obviously higher soil-to-water ratio compared to the state of total water capacity. In this regard, the purpose of the study was to compare the GOST methodology in Russia with a soil-water ratio of 1:5 and the classical Richards method with an assessment of the electrical conductivity of a soil solution in a water-saturated state on the example of arid soils with different genesis and dispersion in the Republic of Uzbekistan. In contrast to the well-known works on the empirical assessment of the influence of the soil-water ratio by the conductometric assessment of salinity, we applied the fundamental theory of dilution to justify the reduction of the results to the standard state of water saturation in order to use the international soil salinity classification. The results showed a satisfactory agreement between the experimental data and the theory of dilution in the range of electrical conductivity values up to 30-35 dS/m, that is, up to the gradation of a very strong degree of salinity according to the international classification. Deviations from the theory can be explained by the non-linearity of electrical conductivity depending on the concentration of electrolytes, immobilization of ions by the solid phase and fine pores, as well as a higher yield of electrolytes into solution at high dilution compared to the standard state of water saturation.